Kevin Blackwell urged his side to capitalise on their new-found mentality after beating Charlton in the FA Cup.
Blades boss wants dual assault in league and cup
Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell urged his side to capitalise on their new-found winning mentality by launching dual assaults on both the Championship and the FA Cup.
A Danny Webber wonder goal and a deflected free-kick from substitute Lee Hendrie proved enough for Blackwell's men as they weathered a late Charlton storm to progress through to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win at Bramall Lane.
United are also finely poised in fourth place in the Championship as they look to gain promotion back to the Premier League, and Blackwell feels they are hitting form at just the right time.
"That's nine now unbeaten and five victories on the trot and we're learning to win games," Blackwell said.
"We've always said 'sometimes you can win with style but others it's going to be tough and uncompromising' and today was all about the latter.
Mentality
"I made five changes and we still went on to win which speaks volumes for the winning mentality of the club."
Blades striker Webber caught Addicks goalkeeper Rob Elliot off his line as he drilled an opportunistic thunderbolt into the top corner to open the scoring and ignite the previously placid tie.
It was 2-0 in the 60th minute as Hendrie's set-piece wrong-footed Elliot.
Fighting spirit has not been a characteristic of Charlton's miserable season so far but they found themselves back in the game in the 69th minute when Chris Dickson capitalised on some poor defending to lob home.
Substitute Dickson did his best to inspire a comeback, and failed to find the target with a late scissors kick, but it was not to be as United held on.
"Winning is winning and it's such an infectious, great thing to have whereas if you're losing you're losing. You're either elated or deflated, and we're elated," added Blackwell.
"I can understand Parky's (Addicks boss Phil Parkinson's) frustrations at Charlton because they just can't win a game but as I say to the boys, 'when someone's down there, you've got to make sure they stay down there'.
"That's the art of professional sport and winning is about a mindset and you need that ruthless determination to go out there and win.
"People may talk about that final three minutes where we were under pressure but at the end of the day we are still in the cup."
Charlton's season went from bad to worse as FA Cup elimination compounded the misery surrounding the bottom-of-the-table club, but Parkinson saw light at the end of the tunnel.
The Addicks were beaten 4-1 at Blades' city rivals Sheffield Wednesday and, despite recording just one win in 22 games, Parkinson hailed his improving side.
Improvement
"We lost the game but from where I was it was a far better performance than we had in Sheffield last week," he said.
"I thought we at least deserved to take Charlton back to The Valley in a replay.
"We competed better and I still think we can play better. Footballers want to get the ball down and play but first and foremost you've got to compete for every ball and contest at every opportunity all over the pitch.
"Today we did the simple things a whole lot better than we did at Hillsborough last week so it's encouraging at least."
