Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder praised his side for delivering an away performance that was “right up there” after they moved seven points clear of the Championship relegation zone with a 2-1 win at Stoke.
Second-half goals from Jairo Riedewald and former Stoke loanee Tom Cannon secured all three points for the Blades, who have moved up two places in the standings to 17th.
And Wilder was delighted with his team’s display up until Ben Wilmot’s 65th-minute reply for Stoke, who were reduced to 10 men late on.
“For 60, 65 minutes it was right up there in terms of an away performance and what we want it to look like,” he said.
“And maybe, against the run of play a little bit, the goal comes and gives them a huge lift and they’ve got some good players that come alive.
“I don’t want the game to be remembered for maybe the last 10 or 15 minutes.
“The game should be remembered, from our point of view, in terms of the first 60, 65 minutes and how well we played against a decent side.”
Having twice surrendered a lead to lose 5-3 against Wrexham last time out, Wilder was impressed with the response of his players.
“We just needed a performance, of course, on the back of the result on Boxing Day,” he added.
“We defended as a team. They were excellent in limiting a really good front four to virtually nothing in the first half and we created as well.
“We had some good chances, good energy about us, good intensity about us.
“Obviously, the way the game went, we got ourselves 2-0 up. It was pretty comfortable and we just got caught up in the chaos a little bit in the second half.”
Stoke, who lost Ben Pearson to an 88th-minute red card, remain in 10th place having now failed to register a win in six out of their last seven matches.
Boss Mark Robins made four changes shortly after his team went 2-0 down and he was disappointed by the ironic cheers some fans aimed at forward Divin Mubama when he was substituted.
“It (the performance) was really poor and I picked a big team today,” he said.
“We tried to deal with set plays and be better at them, but regardless of that, it doesn’t always mean that because you’re big that you’re going to be able to keep the ball out of the net from a set play – and we didn’t.
“So straight away you’re on the back foot. The changes were coming anyway and what I would say is that I don’t expect our players to get booed or cheered and clapped off when they get substitute. That doesn’t help anybody.
“Whether they’re having a bad time or a good time, these are players that are throwing the shirt on and trying to make careers for themselves.
“I’ll deal with that. If I don’t think they’re performing to the level that they should be, then they’ll be off or they won’t start or whatever.
“But that’s not for everybody – we should be together.”
