'You're about to face a different Sheffield United,' Wrexham are warned
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Aided and abetted by a partisan sell-out crowd, Phil Parkinson’s men played way above themselves when the two sides met in north Wales just over a week ago - coming from behind before twice taking the lead during an absorbing encounter.
But with United having lost only twice on home soil since May, Heckingbottom believes the challenge of facing his team in South Yorkshire means Wrexham are set for a very different kind of test to the one they nearly passed last month.
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Hide Ad“At our place, the whole dynamic will change,” Heckingbottom told The Star. “It’s different now, totally different. We knew what we were going to face over there, and barring a 15 minute spell, I thought we coped with it really well. We understood what we were going to be up against. But the situation has changed now.”
After James Jones and Thomas O’Connor had replied to Oli McBurnie’s early opener, United required an added time equaliser from John Egan to remain in the competition having seen Paul Mullin respond to Oliver Norwood’s effort. United were reduced to 10 men midway through the second period when Daniel Jebbison was shown a straight card following an off-the-ball incident. With Heckingbottom electing not to appeal the decision, due to what he described as a “lack of available evidence,” the teenage centre-forward will miss a contest set to decide who faces Tottenham Hotspur in the next round. Television cameras covering the last meeting between these two rivals failed to pick-up Jebbison’s clash with Ben Tozer, with the fourth official drawing Dean Whitestone’s attention.
“We’ll come into this match with all of the same principles we would for a Championship game,” said Heckingbottom, with United standing second in the table. “We’ll need those, because we now what Wrexham are going to bring. They’ll come in their numbers but, like I say, I think the feel at our place will be different now.”