Sheffield United rally round Wes Foderingham after goalkeeper's costly mistake in Bournemouth defeat

Sheffield United's players have rallied around Wes Foderingham after his costly mistake in their 3-1 defeat to Bournemouth at Bramall Lane on Saturday. The goalkeeper's nightmare moment came on the stroke of half-time when he attempted to take a touch but got the ball stuck under his foot, with Justin Kluivert gleefully accepting the gift to put his side 2-0 ahead at the break.

Despite a below-par showing in the first 45 minutes, United may have fancied their chances of nicking something with an improved second-half display at 1-0 but a second goal effectively killed the game as a contest. Marcus Tavernier made it 3-0 after the break and by the time substitute Oli McBurnie's header pulled a goal back deep into added time, many Blades fans had already voted with their feet.

Foderingham's mistake prompted some furious reaction from fans behind his goal as he made the long walk back to have a drink, which he then threw to the ground in frustration. But the former Rangers man did redeem himself somewhat in the second half, making at least two excellent saves to keep the score down on an afternoon that could easily have become even more embarrassing for the Blades.

Boss Paul Heckingbottom admitted post-match that the second goal "killed" his side but defender Auston Trusty did not hang his goalkeeper out to dry when fronting up to the media after the game, which saw United fall four points behind fourth-bottom Luton Town ahead of this weekend's crunch trip to Burnley.

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"It [the second goal] is just unfortunate," the American defender said. "At the end of the day, we take everything as a team. When things are going our way we stay together and when things aren't going our way, we stay together as well. It's disappointing we lost this game.

"I didn't see exactly what happened; I didn't see the second goal. But of course we'll get around him. Everyone's going to make mistakes in this league and no matter what, we stay together. It's unfortunate we didn't come back to win the game, because that would have been awesome; to show that we have his back."

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Foderingham will now have to quickly put the incident out of his mind ahead of the trip to Turf Moor - where, in one of those quirks of fate that football can throw up, he was sent off last season after a similar mistake saw him bring down Nathan Tella just outside the area. United went on to lose 2-0 to the eventual champions but joined them in the Premier League, where Foderingham has faced more shots, and made more saves, than any other goalkeeper so far this season.

The mistake has attracted inevitable criticism but without him the Blades' position in the top-flight could be even worse, with a number of excellent stops helping keep down United's goal difference in games when he has been without doubt their busiest player. What he wouldn't give for a rare quiet afternoon in Lancashire this weekend.