Sheffield United supporters answer Chris Wilder question emphatically on "ideal night" at Stoke City

Chris Wilder thanked Sheffield United’s fans for their “outstanding” support at Stoke City tonight as the Blades regained some vital positive momentum ahead of the Championship play-offs. The Blades kicked off in Staffordshire having lost four of their last five games but deservedly ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Sam McCallum and Andre Brooks.

The result did little to allay anxiety around Stoke’s Championship safety but the Blades have their own priorities as they look to go into the end-of-season shootout in good form, after signing off their regular campaign against Blackburn Rovers next Saturday.

United dealt well with a difficult atmosphere inside the Bet365 Stadium as Stoke fans became increasingly frustrated, both at the performance of their own team and the referee Jarred Gillett. But the Australian referee could easily have shown two Stoke men red cards for separate fouls on United’s Rhian Brewster, with Wouter Berger and Ben Wilmot both catching the United striker with terrible challenges.

Wilder enjoyed the celebrations after the final whistle with the travelling support and said: “It was important, just to get back to winning ways. Our away record's been pretty good all season, until the last few outings, so you have to show a lot of good qualities and character on the road in this division and we've done that all season.

SUFC player ratings v Stoke as "proper" display gives valuable option

Farke's United promotion verdict after Wilder's "classy" gesture

Wilder follows Jose example after Blades future admission

“We had to do that tonight. We understood the challenge with what they're fighting for but we were fighting for something as well and we didn't take a backward step in a pretty physical game.

“People talk about getting ready for the play-offs but there's no better way to do that than winning games of football and we talked about it before. We needed a clean sheet and a proper away performance and I believe we got that.”

For the latest Blades news straight to your inbox, sign up for The Star’s free Sheffield United newsletter

The Star has a dedicated Sheffield United WhatsApp Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click here to join

To make the result all the more impressive, United made seven changes from Monday’s defeat at Burnley but were still good value for their victory. Key men including Gus Hamer, Ben Brereton Diaz and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi missed out entirely, Hamer watching from the away end, while the likes of Sydie Peck, Anel Ahmedhodzic and Harrison Burrows all started on the bench before coming on.

Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United balancing act ahead of play-offs

“We've had to do a lot of balancing because there have been some key players who needed to come out of the team to give them a little bit of a breather, and some who needed more minutes,” Wilder added. “Rob Holding, Femi [Seriki], Rhian, Callum O'Hare. Sam McCallum.

“It's been an ideal night for us and I thought our supporters were absolutely outstanding. Really I shouldn't have done, but I came to the game wondering how it was going to be. I thought they got right behind the team from the first minute.

“Sometimes you wonder, because of what's happened over the last two weeks, how they would react but I thank them for the reaction they gave not just me but the players. They gave them real energy to go and produce a good away performance.”