Sheffield United gave their Premier League survival hopes a shot in the arm with a third victory in five games after coming from behind to beat fellow relegation candidates West Brom 2-1.
Second-half goals from Jayden Bogle and Billy Sharp moved Chris Wilder’s Blades to 11 points from 22 games – 10 points away from safety and one behind 19th-placed West Brom, who have won only once in 10 games since Sam Allardyce took charge.
“It’s just building on what we’ve done over the last few weeks … We got the result we needed,” Bogle said.
“When we’re behind or winning we always go until the end because we know how quickly games can change. We never give up.”
West Brom took the lead four minutes before the break via a quick counterattack, with the Sheffield United goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, making two saves but parrying the second into the path of Matt Phillips, who tapped in from close range.
The home side equalised 11 minutes into the second half when Chris Basham entered the box to control the ball and turned his back to goal to keep defenders at bay as Bogle pounced and fired a shot that squeezed in at the near post.
Sheffield United’s defenders were also the architects of the second goal, Basham overlapping down the right flank and whipping in a cross that was brought down by John Egan in the penalty area. Sharp was on hand to stab a finish past Sam Johnstone in West Brom’s goal. The goal was Sharp’s third in the Premier League this season and secured his side a vital win.
“We needed a big second-half performance. We huffed and puffed in the first half,” Wilder said. “The second half was a lot better, more us. We were on the front foot and driving the opponents back.
“It was always not going to be a free-flowing game with the two teams in the situations they’re in. We were just a bit slow in the first half … We just had to let ourselves go a little bit which we did in the second half. We were more ambitious.”
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3pE7t8y
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