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Sheffield United 1-0 Blackburn Rovers
by Jacque Talbot
at Bramall Lane
BLACKBURN ROVERS’ hopes of automatic promotion received another dent as 10-man Sheffield United secured all three points late on at Bramall Lane in a 1-0 win.
Ben Davies’s goal in injury time moved Sheffield within a point of Rovers, who moved down the Championship table to fifth.
In the second half, Sheffield’s Charlie Goode was sent off and Reda Khadra saw his penalty saved as the away side missed their opportunity to seize the victory and continued their five-game streak with a win or goal.
Sheffield tested the resolve of Thomas Kaminski, arguably Blackburn’s best player in the opening stages, with the goalkeeper keeping out George Baldock’s strike.
On 39 minutes, Baldock was again denied expertly by the Belgian goalkeeper again after he latched onto Sander Berge’s cross.
Halfway through the second half, Goode, on his full Sheffield debut, was given his marching orders for a two-footed lunge on Khadra.
Rovers started to pick up the pace and it culminated in a penalty being awarded in the 71st minute by referee Matthew Donohue, who had been roundly booed by the home crowd throughout, for a handball infringement on John Egan.
Khadra was denied from the spot by Wes Foderingham, who got an arm to the powerful strike.
Sheffield fans, still incessant with Donohue, gave one of the biggest cheers of the night.
Davies then came off the bench, and in the 92nd minute, scored from inside the box after Rovers did not deal with a corner properly.
The result means Mowbray’s men continue their poor form this year, following late in 2021 when they enjoyed a six-game winning run in November and December.
After Wednesday night’s encounter, Mowbray said he’s had to remind the players just how good they are.
“They [are] very annoyed at full time and disappointed. Because they’re so young they’re a bit naive; they need telling how good they are, and what a brilliant team ethic they have, what brilliant camaraderie they have.
“They have to keep believing in each other. We’re in tomorrow because we have another massive game against another really good team on Saturday [QPR]. Now we have to stick together and keep going.”
