Sheffield United vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Bramall LaneAttendance28,036.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Sheffield United and Huddersfield at Bramall Lane as a late goal from Levi Colwill earned victory for the Terriers on Saturday afternoon
Saturday 21 August 2021 18:18, UK
Huddersfield recorded a dramatic 2-1 win at Sheffield United following a goal from Levi Colwill, after Billy Sharp looked to have rescued a point for the hosts earlier in added time.
Josh Koroma gave Huddersfield the lead midway through the second half at Bramall Lane before late goals from Sharp and Colwill made it a thrilling finish to the Sky Bet Championship contest.
Blades boss Slavisa Jokanovic made five changes following the 4-0 midweek thumping at West Brom, calling up Wes Foderingham, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Ben Davies, who were all making their league debut for the Blades. Oli McBurnie and Rhian Brewster were also recalled.
Huddersfield made a lively start to the game with Sorba Thomas posing a threat down the left-hand side.
The promising start made by the visitors silenced the home crowd, who were looking for an improvement after previously seeing three winless games.
McBurnie got on the end of a cross from Chris Basham as United started to grow into the game, but the striker's header went wide.
Davies then tried a shot from distance which cleared the bar, then
Brewster fired in a low shot which goalkeeper Lee Nicholls gathered as McBurnie waited to pounce.
McBurnie was involved again shortly before the break when he tried an overhead kick, forcing Nicholls to get down low to his right and turn the ball wide of the post.
There was a double substitution for Huddersfield around the hour-mark with Fraizer Campbell and Harry Toffolo replacing Danny Ward and Scott High.
Koroma dispossessed Sander Berge and tried a shot for the visitors, which lacked power and direction.
Campbell threatened on the edge of the area, but Norrington-Davies was alert to the danger and snuffed out the danger.
Jokanovic made a change in attack with Sharp coming on in place of Brewster.
Koroma broke the deadlock in the 75th minute, firing into the net at the second attempt after his first effort was kept out by Fotheringham.
Further changes for the hosts saw Norrington-Davies and John Fleck make way for Ben Osborn and David McGoldrick.
Sharp had a chance to level in the 83rd when he fired in a volley from inside the area - but it was straight at Nicholls, who saved comfortably.
Sharp appeared to have rescued the hosts in stoppage time, scoring from close range after a lay-off from McGoldrick.
However, hesitant defending from the home side saw Colwill tap in from Toffolo's low cross to win the contest for Huddersfield.
It means Jokanovic remains without a league win after the first four games of the season.
Sheffield United's Slavisa Jokanovic:"It is of course a hard one for us to take. We tried really hard in the last 20 minutes and even after our goal, I thought we had enough time to win it still. At the end, Billy Sharp scoring was one positive but it was a really strange situation at the end of the game. We have tried switching from one side and did not find it an easy way to create chances but if you don't make something happen then this situation at the end can happen.
"If I say this is the best game we play and we finish with a defeat, it can sound like a joke but in general my team played a good game - but we didn't find enough moments in front of goal. I can understand all the criticism of myself and (the) players, but I trust in my work and my processes and I'm sure we'll be at a different level soon."
Huddersfield's Carlos Corberan: "It was a very tough game. They made us defend a lot of the time and we had to work a lot in our defence. We only had 30 per cent of the ball so we had to dig deep but we started to create chances late on, that made us feel we could harm them. We started to create chances.
"Every opponent in the Championship is totally different. The most important thing is the table and that the players believe their efforts can create wins. From the last three games, I've seen a clear improvement in Josh Koroma. Against Preston he was back to his normal physical values and he made a good effort to help us create counter-attacks. Levi Colwill has shown real maturity since he came here and that's why he has been in the team for every game, despite not playing in the Championship before."
