Sheffield United vs Cardiff City. Sky Bet Championship.
Bramall LaneAttendance26,802.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Sheffield United and Cardiff City at Bramall Lane as Iliman Ndiaye scored the only goal of the game to keep the Blades on track for the play-offs.
Saturday 23 April 2022 18:38, UK
Iliman Ndiaye scored the only goal of the game as promotion hopefuls Sheffield United beat Cardiff 1-0 at Bramall Lane.
Midfielder Ndiaye struck the winner in the 47th minute with a bullet header from a fantastic cross from Gibbs-White on the right.
The Blades stay sixth in the Sky Bet Championship, with Cardiff dropping to 19th.
The visitors had the first chance of the game when Max Watters ran at the Blades defence, skipped past John Egan and found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Wes Foderingham, who pulled off a great save.
Sheffield United had a lucky escape when Foderingham gave the ball away to Watters in his own half. The ball was squared to Cody Drameh but he could not get it out of his feet and was dispossessed.
Ben Osborn forced a great save from Dillon Phillips when he struck a volley from the edge of the box. Phillips parried the ball away, diving to his right.
The hosts had a great chance when Gibbs-White chipped the ball over the Cardiff defence to find Sander Berge, whose close-range attempt was blocked by Phillips.
Berge went close again after meeting the ball at the back post following a free-kick out wide.
Once again it was Berge with a chance, with his shot from the right-hand side of the six-yard box going narrowly wide.
The sides went in level at the break, with the home side looking like the better side after 45 minutes despite a couple of early scares.
Ndiaye powered home his header in the early stages of the second half and after taking the lead, Sheffield United kept up the pressure, recycling possession and keeping the visitors in their own half.
Cardiff substitute Mark McGuinness tested Foderingham after meeting the ball with his head at the back post from a free-kick.
United had a penalty appeal waved away by the referee after McGuinness collided with Billy Sharp inside the penalty area.
Sharp had a chance on the counter-attack when the ball was slipped through to him down the left-hand side and he tried to square the ball to Gibbs-White.
Rubin Colwill sent a speculative 25-yard effort over the crossbar, while the home side had another penalty appeal turned down by the referee, this time for an alleged handball from McGuinness.
Berge almost doubled the Blades' lead in added time after hitting a post following a quick break.
Sheffield United's Paul Heckingbottom: "I'm just bothered about us and us winning. Whenever there is a goal in it it's always going to be nervy, but I thought we stood strong. Wes (Foderingham) mopped things up that came into the box
without us really suffering any shots on target, which is great. We could have made it easier for ourselves, especially second half when we broke away a few times and could have put the game to bed, but it's not going to be like that this season.
"You just get them feelings, things that keep getting thrown in our face or maybe go against us that we are having to battle through, so we will continue to battle through that and continue to battle on. I'm delighted with the goal, the type of goal and overall it was a strong performance. I thought we got better as it went on."
Cardiff's Steve Morison: "There's nothing negative coming from me today, that was excellent from our lads. We limited a top, top team to the least amount of shots this season at Bramall Lane. We had just as many chances as them. We could have easily been in the lead, been level, come away with something, but we haven't.
"We're a team in transition, I'm really proud of that. I thought we played really well. It was just that they took one of their five chances and we didn't take one of ours. So yeah, frustrated from that point of view. They are a top, top team and they're fighting for the play-offs. It was good to see their reaction at the end of the game, they were desperate for that game to finish. I really enjoyed standing there watching the players carry out what we asked them to do."
