Sheffield United: The secrets behind clean sheet success

Sixth in the Championship table with five matches remaining, United enter tomorrow’s game against Reading having conceded only once in their last five outings under manager Paul Heckingbottom.

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Wes Foderingham, the former Rangers goalkeeper, is also preparing for the fixture hoping to keep his 17th clean sheet of the season.

Asked to explain why United have proved so successful at preventing opponents from scoring, the 31-year-old said: “The way we defend, the manager and everyone else makes sure it’s all really clear.

“We all go into games knowing how we are going to contribute and we have those pictures in our heads. Be that as a group or what your own individual role is within that.”

Preserving their reputation for being one of the division’s toughest teams to pick apart could prove crucial to United’s hopes of making an immediate return to the Premier League after being relegated last season. Level on points with fifth-placed Luton Town, they are three ahead of Middlesbrough in eighth with Chris Wilder’s team having played one fixture fewer.

Foderingham, who started the campaign as Robin Olsen’s deputy between the posts before the Sweden international joined Aston Villa, also credited United’s midfielders and strikers with helping to ensure a spate of injuries to wing-backs and centre-halves has not suffocated their top-flight ambitions.

“It’s small details and everything that’s happier higher up the pitch too,” he said. “It starts there.”

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