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.
