Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest: Blades boss admits late equaliser "a kick in the teeth"
Paul Heckingbottom admits Sheffield United’s concession of a late equaliser against Nottingham Forest tonight was a “sickener” and a “kick in the teeth”, despite calling for some perspective over the point against one of the Blades’ play-off rivals.
United looked to be on their way to a crucial three points thanks to Billy Sharp’s second-half header, after Wes Foderingham had saved Brennan Johnson’s penalty in the first.
But they were stunned late on when Ryan Yates headed home from a corner.
"It's a sickener, a kick in the teeth,” Heckingbottom admitted. "It's flat, it hurts. Of course it does.
"It's a 1-1 draw but the timing of the goal means one team come off feeling like they've won the FA Cup, the other like they've been relegated."We've said it all along, every team comes with a gameplan and Forest came with a slightly different one, to press us high.#
"I think it was Billy's one chance today and he took it. It was a fantastic ball, he pulls off the centre-back and it was a really good header.
"It's all about the direction.”
United were forced to give a full league debut to young Femi Seriki, with George Baldock and Jayden Bogle both missing with injury, while Ben Davies was played out of position at right centre-half and the left-footed midfielder Ben Osborn finished the game at right wing-back after replacing Seriki.
"We've got some square pegs in round holes, we’ve got people making debuts through necessity,” Heckingbottom added.
“Something I've learnt over time is to give perspective.”