The Blades are through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup

by | Feb 11, 2021 | News, Sport

Sheffield United sealed a victory over Bristol City in the FA Cup match.

The Blades secured a place in the quarter-finals for the second time in a row after winning 1-0 against a top-half Championship side.

Bramall Lane, the home stadium of Sheffield United, Credits: SUFCboy

Chris Wilder made four changes to the starting 11 after the defeat against Chelsea on Sunday, with Brewster, Sharp, McGoldrick and Ampadu back in the lineup.

 

At the start, the Blades were attacking more, having a few shots from different positions.

However, it was Bristol City who first had a clear cut opportunity – Tomas Kalas caught a deflection from Max Lowe and shot in the bottom right corner from just inside the penalty area. Aaron Ramsdale stretched out his hands and made an outstanding save.

For the rest of the first half, Sheffield United was controlling the run of play, creating more opportunities. However, just a few of them converted into dangerous shots.

In the second half, the Blades increased the pressure and started moving the ball faster and by that improved the efficiency of attacks.

The key episode of the game happened at the 65th minute when after a fast build-up in the penalty area, David McGoldrick made a shot which was deflected from Alfie Mawson’s hand.

After the VAR review, the referee made a decision to award a penalty for Sheffield United and sent Alfie Mawson off for preventing a clear goal. Billy Sharp took it and scored, sending the ball right in the down left corner.

 

Dean Holden, the Bristol City manager, said: “Alfie feels responsible which he shouldn’t be because I don’t think it was even handball. I’ve never been a fan of VAR, I think it’s killing the game.”

The rest of the match was relatively calm, with Sheffield United controlling the possession but not being very active in the attack, to protect the necessary result.

Nick Wylie, the founder of ‘’The Sheffield United Way’’ channel, commented on the result. He said: ‘’It was a really poor showing from both sides and neither seemed interested in progressing to the quarter-finals.

‘’It was a game of little chances created but I feel we showed that little bit of quality to see us through.’’

 

The quarter-finals draw will take place today, approximately around 7:45 pm, the Blades were allocated with the ball number 3.