Sheffield United: Promotion chasers reveal their biggest fear after beating Huddersfield Town

Instead, after watching his team mark its return to action with a hard-fought but deserved win over Huddersfield Town, manager Paul Heckingbottom told The Star that coaching staff had been more concerned about its concentration levels during the contest.

Revealing the psychological effect a pause in the fixture calendar can have upon players is often heavier than the toll it takes on their rhythm, Heckingbottom explained: “Mentally people can switch off, and that’s often the biggest one. That’s why I want people back, because I can keep everyone on edge a little bit then. They know there’s good people behind them, ready to come in at a moment’s notice. When that’s the case, you can easily pick any number of them and change things around.”

Events during the contest with Huddersfield, which was settled by Billy Sharp’s early goal, lent weight to Heckingbottom’s theory. After dominating the first-half, United allowed Mark Fotheringham’s men back into the contest as their work became increasingly careless. But the introduction of Sander Berge, making his first appearance since the beginning of October, coupled with Reda Khadra’s solid late cameo, helped the hosts wrestle back control. McBurnie was also introduced during the closing stages, as United finished the afternoon level on points with leaders Burnley ahead of their meeting with Queens Park Rangers today.

“To be honest, I didn’t think about it, the break,” Heckingbottom said. “That’s because I’d seen how everyone had prepared. We had an in-house game and a couple of teams at Rotherham. We got some comments from their guys, about how they went about it and how they were on the front foot. It’s how we prepare every day. We try to get in and then stay in that mindset.”

"I thought, to begin with, we were brilliant,” Heckingbottom added. “Then, second-half, we allowed them to get back into it because we weren’t as tidy on the ball as we’d usually like. But even then, we defended really well.”