Same again won’t do

Photo: Alan Howarth

ATHLETIC’S Mike Jones tries to thread a pass through the Blades line.

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Sheffield United 3, Athletic 0

WITHOUT their beating heart, limp and lifeless Athletic collapsed to defeat in a performance you can only hope is a one-off.

Manager John Sheridan made the decision — at the last minute, he revealed afterwards — to rest his skipper Liam Kelly at Bramall Lane.

The idea was to side-step a two-game ban that would have resulted had the combative midfield anchor picked up a 10th yellow card of the campaign.

The deadline for such a suspension has now passed, leaving Kelly uninhibited in terms of rallying his men for the pivotal period of matches lying in wait. But without the man who relishes doing the dirty work in the middle third against the Blades, Athletic were dominated in the key moments of a one-sided contest.

Ironically, the way a disjointed team — nervous in possession and second to every loose ball in the crucial period of the first half — failed to cope with Kelly’s absence strengthened Sheridan’s case.

To risk not having a player who gets around the pitch like no other in Athletic colours for tomorrow’s game against Blackpool and Saturday’s against Rochdale?

In the context of the club’s current malaise, it would have been a risk too far.

Sheridan set Athletic up in what initially appeared to be a 4-4-2 formation, with Jonathan Forte taking the captain’s armband for the day against the club at which he made his professional debut 13 years ago.

With Cameron Dummigan pushed high up against Blades danger man Matty Done, the first few minutes were tight before Athletic’s porous right side started to rock.

A poor pass from James Wilson to Dummigan led to a corner which Timothee Dieng did well to head away, but the respite was only temporary. Dummigan failed to clear a ball stuck between his feet, Anthony Gerrard could only half-block Che Adams as he tried to make space for a shot and John Brayford controlled and fired in a well-placed, left-footed shot beyond Joel Coleman after 10 minutes.

Dieng had to put in a goal-saving block and Coleman saved low down to his right from Adams before the Blades, streaming forward with intent, claimed a second.

Forte did have one header saved — it won’t appear in the records, as he was penalised for a foul as he climbed — but Athletic could not fashion anything going forward against a strong home defence.

Done, who had a lot of influence as a left wing-back, fired in a cross-shot after 41 minutes that only eluded Billy Sharp by a foot at most.

Sheridan had to make changes and switched the disappointing Dummigan for Curtis Main at half-time, who stepped into a front three alongside Forte and Amadi-Holloway.

One goal could have changed the momentum of the game. Main almost had it in the 56th minute, taking a Matt Palmer pass in space on the right of the area and shooting with power only to see Long react superbly well to turn an instinctive left-footed shot aside.

The same player, Athletic’s most potent attacker by far on the day, then struck a left-footed shot from 30 yards which cannoned off the underside of the crossbar before bouncing to safety.

At least those two moments gave the travelling fans a little to get excited about.

There was little else to raise the pulse. Nigel Adkins’ Blades side were comfortable enough to let opponents who lacked sharpness in the final third hold possession.

And when they did turn the screw, the third goal came for Sharp. A spell of keep-ball on the right flank ended with Brayford turning a pass into the path of the 16-goal forward, who went past Gerrard to fire powerfully into the roof of Coleman’s goal.

New boy Timmy Thiele had a couple of brief moments of promise when arriving on to the field as a substitute.

Athletic were poor, though, and need to quickly rediscover their previous verve under Sheridan.