Baxter will load bullets for Blades

Mike Jones:. the Athletic midfield man is in the running for a North-West player of the year award.

SHEFFIELD United are set to offer a severe test for Athletic’s defence in set pieces on Saturday.

Blades boss Nigel Adkins, who hasn’t seen his men win away from Bramall Lane since August, arrives with set-piece specialist Jose Baxter to reinforce his push for the top on Saturday.

And Adkins, whose team has observed that almost a third of all goals come from set-piece play, plans to use the skilful delivery of ex-Athletic playmaker Baxter to full effect.

“Credit must go to coach Andy Crosby,” Adkins said ahead of this weekend’s match. “We work hard on set-plays in training.

“We analyse everything from free-kicks to throw-ins, and spend a lot of time working on them, going into detail. But then you’ve got to go out and execute that and, credit to the players, they did that.”