Hull City vs Sheffield United. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance20,426.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Hull City and Sheffield United at the MKM Stadium as goals from Oli McBurnie and Sander Berge scored to help the Blades back to the top of the league
Sunday 4 September 2022 18:35, UK
Sheffield United moved top of the Sky Bet Championship with a professional 2-0 victory at Hull.
Oli McBurnie had gone 43 games without scoring until he struck at Luton last month, but his third goal in as many matches put the visitors in control after 20 minutes.
Sander Berge then added a second with 15 minutes remaining after he pounced upon loose marking inside the right channel of the penalty area.
Berge's strike might have been fortunate to have taken a sizeable deflection off defender Jacob Greaves, but it was ample reward for a man-of-the-match performance.
The Blades are now unbeaten in the league since the opening day of the season and were, despite a few scares along the way, good value for three points against disjointed hosts.
Hull made numerous eye-catching signings during the transfer window, with optimism high amongst supporters that they now have a squad capable of challenging for the play-offs.
But, ultimately, they paid the price for a sluggish start in front of a big crowd at the MKM Stadium - and never launched a sustained challenge to threaten their well-drilled Yorkshire rivals.
Indeed, Hull ought to have been 1-0 down after 18 minutes when Oliver Norwood's reaching cross towards the right was expertly volleyed across the face of goal by George Baldock.
McBurnie was, though, caught flat-footed and failed to react to what should have been a routine half-volley from close range.
The Scotland international made amends two minutes later - though Hull goalkeeper Matt Ingram was desperately at fault for Sheffield United's opener.
McBurnie was allowed by Alfie Jones to squirm into a shooting position towards the left-hand corner of the 18-yard box. His strike was on target, but Ingram somehow allowed the football to scuff beneath his body at his near-post.
Just when United looked set to cut loose following that deserved opener, Hull created their best chances of the game after 27 minutes.
Callum Elder did well to break down an eager counter-attack, from which his clearance found Oscar Estupinan out on his own inside the centre circle. Estupinan drove inside the Blades' penalty area but looked jaded by the time he shot at Wes Foderingham, who reacted well to the initial effort before doing even better on the follow-up from the Portuguese.
Any momentum Hull had hoped to build after the restart was quickly subdued by a combination of wayward passing and neat possession-based football from Paul Heckingbottom's side.
Shota Arveladze's men at least rallied gamely as the second half progressed - most notably once influential playmaker Jean Michael Seri returned from injury as a substitute.
But once Berge quietened the raucous home support with a second after 75 minutes, a routine away win was never in doubt.
Hull's Shota Arveladze: "It's not a good statistic [conceding the most goals in the division]. I cannot feel positive about it, but we have to work on it. That's a part of football . You want to score more and concede less but we have to balance between attack and defence. I think it was a good game. They are a really tough team to play against, but I think with his (Ingram's) quality he should save their first goal.
"I would say the time when we could have scored was at the end of the first half. The game was still even then and sometimes they, too, played the longer balls, but we didn't create too much in the second half. They scored a second at the right time again. The boys tried - it was a great crowd and a great atmosphere. I cannot say too much about the players' attitude and will and the way they trained before the game."
Sheffield United's Paul Heckingbottom: "We were strong without the ball. We spoke about their threats on the counter-attack. Without the ball we were good, which is great - especially when you are away from home. The whole team, to nullify a team that does create chances, is good. We had to battle and work hard and press, but there were are also big moments of quality when we could, and should, have scored more goals."
"When the lads were warming up, there was some allegation of racial abuse, which the boys heard and reported. It's disappointing. We know there's no place for it. I'm not speaking bad about Hull supporters, I'm speaking about football in general. We'll follow the process."
