Sheffield United defeats Brentford 1-0. James McAtee’s spectacular winner gives Chris Wilder his first win back at the Blades as.
Sheffield United defeated Brentford 1-0 at home behind a spectacular goal from James McAtee, earning Chris Wilder his first victory since taking over as manager of the team.
Tuesday saw Wilder return to Bramall Lane as Paul Heckingbottom was fired. Despite losing his first game in command against Liverpool, Wilder overcame the setback to lead the Blades to only their second victory of the year.
“It was really emotional because that first win is huge for everybody,” Wilder said in his post-match press conference.
“I’d have been desperately disappointed (if Sheffield United conceded) for the amount of effort they’ve put in.”
The only truly outstanding play of the game came from McAtee, who curled in a fantastic first-half stoppage-time shot (45+1) as Brentford struggled to muster much without the injured Bryan Mbeumo.
Frank Onyeka, who had been given a yellow card for a stamp in a tackle on Vinicius Souza in the 30th minute, avoided a red card VAR check, so the visitors were lucky not to be reduced to 10 players prior to McAtee’s goal.
Following VAR’s decision to not send referee Stuart Attwell to the monitor, former Premier League official Mike Dean felt that Onyeka ought to have been sent off.
Nevertheless, Sheffield United survived the contentious choice to defeat the Bees, keeping their first clean sheet of the year and dropping two points behind safety while Thomas Frank’s team is still in eleventh place.
