It’s four wins on the bounce for the Blades and a third clean sheet on the bounce as United beat QPR and did the double over the West London side thanks to David McGoldrick’s first half header. It was not the best of games but United were the better side throughout and deserved the victory. Granted there was not many chances but all the good play came from the home side as a negative opponent rarely threatened.

Manager Wilder went back to his ‘normal’ league side with new loan signings Kieran Dowell and Gary Madine on the bench. The latter got a large round of applause from four sides of Bramall Lane and no boos were heard at all when he was announced.

Rangers played in a natty pink away strip but made their intentions clear from the off with a very negative approach which saw them get all eleven players behind the ball. They also were timewasting from the very first minute and several goal kicks and throws saw them take an age to take. United had a good chance early on. Baldock’s diagonal ball found Sharp who cleverly pulled it back but McGoldrick’s first time side footed finish was wide. Soon after an early booking came when Fleck was caught high and late from Cousins giving the referee little other option.

United continued to force the issue with Norwood’s passing a real feature early on as Rangers sat back and showed little attacking intent. Duffy tried to work an opening but Sharp was crowded out and then Fleck was held up after some patient play.

The R’s were now also going to the floor asking for treatment and three times the physio had to come on but the players made very quick recoveries after these stoppages.

United remained patient and made the breakthrough on 37 minutes. McGoldrick started the move and found Baldock and then Norwood took over. His cross was superb, whipped in with pace and MCGOLDRICK got across his man to flick home with his head. United had been the aggressor of the two side and deserved to go in front even though the game had seen few chances and neither keeper tested at all.

Little else happened in the remainder of the half with Duffy showing some nice skill to beat his man but Baldock and Basham could not quite find the telling final ball.

The second half saw Fleck penalised and booked for a pull back on Eze but Rangers were not creating much at all despite seeing a bit more of the ball. United still were playing the better football and Stevens had one run and cross blocked out. Baldock then also got in but his excellent cross was just ahead of Sharp after neat build up.

Dowell was brought on for Duffy for his league home debut as United tried to find some fresh legs behind the strikers. The wind was causing problems with the ball swirling around and it made it hard for much good football to be played.

QPR finally had an effort but Freeman’s low shot was saved easily from Henderson before Dowell was booked for a foul not long after he had played a clever ball to Baldock. Stevens and then O’Connell made good interceptions as Rangers had a rare break in a scrappy game.

Osayi-Samuel and then Smith came on as Rangers looked for some kind of attacking threat and continued to play the long diagonal ball. United had three corners in succession but both Egan and Basham’s headers were off target as the Blades sought to put the game to bed.

Clarke was preferred to Madine as the option off the bench with Sharp coming off to a good hand for his efforts. Stevens had a chance as he found himself a long way forward but his shot was pulled just wide before Freeman had a long range shot for QPR that was still a fair way wide. United were keeping the ball well and the defence was having another excellent game and winning the key battles.

Stearman came on for McGoldrick at the end as United tried to ensure they had extra height for the high pumped ball as the game entered three minutes of stoppage time. In this time a long range shot from Wells that was a long way over was the best the visitors could muster. After this United saw out things comfortably and the fans saluted the team on full time as they recognised the Blades had moved into the automatic promotion places.

United – A deserved win. It was not a classic by any stretch and lacked the spice, incident or atmosphere of the Xmas games down at the Lane. The wind did not help which made it hard to paly fluent football but the negative opposition ensured it was such a poor game. They sat in, time wasted and made it hard to break them down. We remained patient and even though did not create loads, we had nearly all the clear chances- McGoldrick chance from Sharp pull back; then the goal and then an Egan header, Stevens shot off the top of my head. Neither keeper made a save of note all game but we had nearly all the play, possession and territory. They just put men behind the ball and tried to limit space. We moved it around really well and showed patience for a lot of the time. The final ball was a bit up and down. We took a bit too long to do things also but the goal was actually the opposite- we waited and waited and there was a superb ball from Norwood and a clever flicked finish. We had all the stand out players and individually and collectively we were worthy winners. Norwood and McGoldrick were excellent and so were Bash and Egan. The rest of the team were workmanlike and I just felt that even though the game was a bit flat, it was a professional performance and one that was needed with some tough away games coming up.

Overall, the attitude, work ethic and organisation were excellent. We kept a good shape and discipline and ensured even though we did not create loads, we got the goal and then just did what we had to do. Would have been nice to get a second goal but they were so negative it was hard to get through. Even at 1-0 they had 11 behind the ball when we had it. We just made sure we made no silly mistakes, kept it well and saw it out. It was a solid performance and a crucial three points. We did all the little things and I felt second half made some big tackles and interceptions that stopped them even getting anywhere near our goal and that we protected Henderson really well. At 1-0 you always wonder if a team can nick something and they put the big lad Smith on and kept playing the big boot and used a long throw but we restricted them completely to long range shots – a theme in our recent wins and another clean sheet and 4th win on the bounce.

We now have a tough game at Swansea (with Norwich looming too) but are up to 2nd and are right in there. After the West Brom defeat; I felt we may fade away like last year so to win 4 and draw 1 since is simply brilliant. Others have been up and down and we have actually been the most consistent team since that defeat. We now have to go to go and get a few results away – Norwich have two home games but with 19 to go we are now safe! Certainly, the playoffs look more than a possibility now and whilst I am still unsure if we will have enough consistency to get the top two (my negative persona!) none of the others are exactly convincing too. We are right in there and our form is very good. We need to just give it a go and not be conservative at all – we will lose some but we need to ensure that we keep this level of consistency in performance. If we do, we really have a chance and it could be 1990 all over again (Leeds and us went up).