Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom praised ten-man Sunderland's attacking approach at Bramall Lane - even though the Black Cats ended up losing 2-1. Sunderland arrived in South Yorkshire determined to take the game to one of the Championship's promotion favourites and for half-an-hour they were more than a match for the Blades.
But Dan Neil's red card for a professional foul changed the game on the half-hour, with the young midfielder dismissed for a professional foul on James McAtee, allowing Sheffield United to seize control. They took the lead minutes later through Anel Ahmedhodzic, and added a second through Max Lowe at the beginning of the second half.
"I thought in the first half we weren't at our best," said Heckingbottom, who was on the books at Sunderland in the late 1990s but did not play a senior game for the club. "It was a bit down to us, we weren't as composed on the ball as we wanted to be and credit to Sunderland - they stepped onto us and took risks, fair play to them.
READ MORE: Sunderland learn a harsh lesson, on a night that left Alex Neil proud - but with fresh worries
"Some [teams] do that to us here but a lot don't. I thought we settled down a bit as the game went on.
"The problem was that although we did have a spare midfielder most of the time - Macca [McAtee] or Sander [Berge] generally but we weren't finding them. Then when we did find him towards the end [of the half] he was turning back and giving Sunderland that chance to press.
"They just didn't give [Berge] the time. You have to give big credit to what they did.
"If we'd got the ball to Macca earlier and they jumped, we were through. We needed to be better second half and we were."
Lynden Gooch pulled a goal back ten minutes into the second period to give the Blades something to think about in the final half-hour, although Sunderland were unable to put any real pressure on the hosts. Heckingbottom said: "The problem is when you give a goal away like that it just changes the dynamic.
"I know when I watch it back I'll see no chances against [us] but it didn't feel like that when I was on the side and there's just a goal in it!"
The Blades' second goal capped a fine flowing moving involving Oliver Norwood and Berge, with Heckingbottom adding: "At the start of the second half we showed a lot more composure on the ball and before you know it you've got bodies up the pitch and you can start to score goals like that. We've had good spells and good patches of play but we haven't played like that as often as we would have liked this season."
READ NEXT:
- Sunderland players will rally around Dan Neil after his red card, says Lynden Gooch
- Alex Neil reveals improvement Sunderland forward Ross Stewart has made in the Championship
- Alex Neil hails 'brilliant' Sunderland players despite defeat at Sheffield United
- Sheffield United 2-1 Sunderland player ratings as Patterson stands out after Neil's costly red card
- Sheffield United 2-1 Sunderland report as ten-man Black Cats' unbeaten start comes to an end
