Birmingham City 1 Sheffield United 2: Bogle and Sharp on target as Blades hit back to win
and live on Freeview channel 276
This is how the game unfolded, with reaction from Paul Heckingbottom.
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Birmingham City v Sheffield United LIVE
PH on squad strength
We may have got rid of a few players, reduce the squad and the wage bill, but we have competition and the squad will get used with the games we have. The fact Flecky and Sander got 90 puts us in an even better position for the games coming up.
PH on Sharp’s goal
That goal says a lot about what kind of player he is. I’m not sure the pass was for him but he anticipates, knew the goalkeeper was coming out and found the bottom corner.
PH on the goals
The first goal is a good pass inside, Sander drives and Sharpy anticipates and finishes with his left foot. The second was a fantastic team goal, one and two touch, and that’s hard to defend against.
Paul Heckingbottom’s post Brum reaction
You can have the same players with no confidence spirit or plan and you won’t win. We showed a great mentality to get back into it and the goals were fantastic. We knew how tough it would be tonight, we respected their style and knew they’d put balls in our box. To restrict them to the chances they had, dealing with the first and second balls, I thought we did really well and then we were able to go and play on top of that.
FULL TIME
AND it’s victory for the Blades on the road, courtesy of goals from Bogle and Sharp - a good show of United’s mettle and character after going a goal behind and although it wasn’t sparkling, they found a way to dig deep and get the three points in testing conditions. Stay tuned for post-match reaction, player ratings, a full report and more
City goalkeeper Etheridge
is robbed on the halfway line after looking to beat two men, McGoldrick goes down the line and looks to score from distance but it’s blocked and the ref blows for a foul
Shouts for handball
as the ball cannons off Mengi’s arm as Sharp looks to barrel through the middle - nothing given and Blues break to win a corner at the other end, it comes to nothing and Foderingham goes down for some treatment
Egan gets up highest
to meet Fleck’s corner, he’s brave as the fists of the goalkeeper are flying and he can’t get the effort on target
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