They say you cannot win a two-legged tie after just 90 minutes butSheffield Unitedtook a giant step towards the Wembley playoff final showpiece after surging towards a 3-0 victory over 10-man Bristol City. For the Blades, who also had an early goal questionably chalked off, their task was made easier after the City defender Rob Dickie was sent off on the verge of half-time, allowing Harrison Burrows to strike from the penalty spot and give Chris Wilder’s side a leg-up. In the second half the substitutes Andre Brooks and Callum O’Hare clinched victory.
This time the billowing red smoke on the pitch came from the delirious United away end, where the injured homegrown Blades midfielder Ollie Arblaster was thought to be enjoying himself. Suddenly City’s pitch invasion only last weekend felt an awful long time ago. For all of the talk of the gulf between these teams, the 22 points which separated third-placed United and sixth-placed City, ultimately the sending-off transformed this match. Now City’s only hopes of reaching the final hinge on an unthinkable – and sizeable – victory at Bramall Lane.
These games are always characterised by memorable moments. ForBristol City, it has been 17 years of mostly hurt and mild indifference since David Noble scored a stoppage-time screamer at Selhurst Park to give the club a semi-final first-leg advantage over Crystal Palace. Then came Wembley, where City were defeated by Hull City, Dean Windass’s volley one of those sore snapshots that sticks in the memory.
United arrived with a wretched record, too, having failed to prevail in any of their previous nine playoff campaigns. Chris Wilder was a defender in the team that lost a relegation playoff against City in 1987-88, when their hoodoo began. Most recently, the penalty shootout agony against Nottingham Forest in 2021-22.
So both teams knew what they had signed up for. United saw an early goal dubiously disallowed for offside against Sydie Peck, after Tyrese Campbell thought he opened the scoring having latched on to Kieffer Moore’s flick from the captain Jack Robinson’s long throw. United’s players had begun celebrating in their numbers when the assistant referee raised his flag on the far side. One away supporter was ejected for letting off a flare, his evening in the West Country over inside a dozen minutes. Three minutes later City responded, the midfielder Joe Williams sending a first-time rocket against the crossbar, the purest of strikes after good work by Anis Mehmeti.
United had a couple more chances before taking the lead from the spot approaching the interval, Campbell fluffing his lines, sending a tame shot straight at the City goalkeeper Max O’Leary before Moore also sent a weak effort at O’Leary from Rhian Brewster’s squared pass. Williams was forced off through injury, thumping the turf in frustration but his last act was to rev up the home support as he headed for the tunnel.
United belatedly led into at least five minutes of stoppage time, the referee Oliver Langford pointing to the spot after Dickie clumsily upended Moore in the box. Moore read the bouncing ball from Vini Souza’s header and it spelt trouble when he charged between Zak Vyner and Dickie, clean through on O’Leary’s goal. Burrows sent O’Leary the wrong way from the spot. Things then got worse when Dickie was given a straight red card.
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Suddenly this game had a totally different complexion. Manning recognised as much, making a double change at the interval, introducing Haydon Roberts and Sinclair Armstrong. That was City’s third change, with the West Ham loanee George Earthy earlier replacing Williams. The game understandably fell a little flat, United’s extra man allowing them to gain a greater sense of control. It did not mean United carved City open, however, though Peck, the rangy 20-year-old, fresh from being named theChampionshipyoung player of the year, pulled a shot narrowly wide.
Manning’s thinking presumably switched to something close to damage limitation. City inevitably struggled to work the United goalkeeper Michael Cooper, a shrewd £2.5m deal from Plymouth, until Mehmeti sent an awkward effort goalwards with 15 minutes of regular time left. By then Brooks had doubled United’s lead, converting Burrow’s low cross to the back post after the ball eluded his teammates and then O’Hare completed the scoring, tucking in from Moore’s knockdown. “Mind the gap, mind the gap, Sheffield Wednesday,” sang the away support on loop. The Blades, who host City in the return leg on Monday, are not promoted yet, but they are that little bit closer.