Sheffield United told 'You can be heroes' as they prepare for clash with Nottingham Forest

Trailing 2-1 on aggregate following last weekend’s defeat in South Yorkshire, United travel to the City Ground knowing they must become only the second team to beat Steve Cooper’s side on home soil since the turn of the year in order to keep their Premier League dream alive.

Insisting his squad has both the calibre and strength of calibre to prevail, Heckingbottom said: “We are 90 minutes away from Wembley. Ninety minutes away from the best game of football in the world according to some people.

“We are delighted to be here and we will be giving it everything. What have we got to lose? This is no different to us. We are used to being in this situation. We are prepared for it. We know it. The boys are ready to go.”

The reasons to be cheerful

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Although United were way below par during what proved to be a breathless encounter against Forest three days ago, falling two goals behind when Jack Colback and Brennan Johnson fired the visitors into a commanding lead, Sander Berge’s late strike ensured the tie remained alive.

Sixteenth in the table when he was appointed in November, Heckingbottom is convinced United’s route towards a fifth placed finish, coupled with their experience of past promotions, could give them the edge over opponents who have not competed at the highest level since 1999.

“We have been chasing all season,” Heckingbottom said. “We know how to do it and we are comfortable with it. We’ve had to play catch-up pretty much all the way through and, even when we hit really good form, the number of games we had called off through no fault of our own (due to Covid-19) meant we didn’t get into the top six until quite late on. This is nothing new for us.”

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“It’s half-time, we haven’t lost the game,” he continued. “It’s a tie. It’s two legs. The ones who haven’t been in that situation before, they had to get their heads around it. The ones who have, they got it straight away. It’s been great over the past few days to see the ones who haven’t come around and realise this is still on. They’ve got their heads around it now.”

The pressure differential

United are expected to name an unchanged squad at Forest, who must decide whether or not to select Keinan Davis in their starting eleven.

Echoing Heckingbottom’s warning, Cooper has admitted it would be “naive” to think that Forest already have one foot in this month’s promotion showpiece.

“If we do our jobs right, we can turn this situation to our advantage,” Heckingbottom said. “Being the away team, we can play with that freedom. Forest are going to give us nothing. We know that. But that comes with a different pressure.”

“What’s the panic? We have been here before,” he added. “We know we are a match for anyone when we are at our best so we just have to go there and win.”