West Brom eased the pressure on head coach Ryan Mason with a 2-0 win over Sheffield United at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies had slipped into the bottom half of the Championship after six defeats in their last 10, but moved up to 14th - outside the top half on goal difference alone - thanks to in-form striker Aune Heggebo's seventh goal in seven games and a thunderbolt from Karlan Grant.

Sheffield United failed to hit a shot on target in the second half, as their six-game unbeaten run came to an end. Chris Wilder's side stay 17th as a result of their first defeat since November 4.

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West Brom keep up sterling home record

Control of the game was traded in the first half, but there were few moments where either side looked capable of capitalising on their momentum.

Sheffield United fashioned the better chances, though. Gustavo Hamer forced a brilliant one-handed save from Joe Wildsmith and 25 minutes later, Patrick Bamford fired straight at the Baggies goalkeeper after Ousmane Diakhite was caught dallying on the edge of his own box.

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The hosts hit the front less than five minutes after the restart. Heggebo sent the ball out wide right for George Campbell, timed his run to perfection, then stylishly finished first time from just outside the six-yard box.

That gave West Brom momentum, and just after the hour, they extended their lead. Heggebo teed up Karlan Grant, who appeared to trip Mark McGuinness as he shaped up to arrow a thunderbolt in off the underside of the crossbar.

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Between the 42nd and 79th minute, the Blades did not manage a single shot and though they did eventually rack up four more, with a combined xG value of 0.37, the game was already beyond them.

Analysis: Should Grant's goal have stood?

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Curtis Davies speaking on Sky Sports Football:

"For me, no, it should not have stood. By no means does Karlan Grant mean to bring down Mark McGuinness, but if this is a striker going in on goal and the defender accidentally clips his ankle, as he does here, the striker is going to get a penalty or the free-kick is going to be given. Therefore, even though it's the slightest touch, that's why it should've been a foul."

Michael Brown speaking on Sky Sports Football:

"It's a very, very poor decision in a game like this. He's got to give that. It's a clear foul and that changes the outcome. We want lovely finishes like that, but the officials have to get that right."

Chris Wilder speaking on Sky Sports Football:

"The [second] goal was a terrible goal. We tried to flick one round the edge of the box late, outside their box. They counter, the centre-half is not strong enough. I'm not even interested in is it a foul or not. It's not a foul. It's an excuse."

Mason: Our most mature performance

West Brom head coach Ryan Mason speaking on Sky Sports Football:

"We played a really mature game. It was probably the most mature game we've played all season. You could feel a bit of anxiety in the first half and we weren't quite there with the ball.

"I'm super proud of the players for the effort they put in and the maturity to get through the spells where we weren't quite great.

"We made good decisions and, when we had our moments, I thought we were outstanding. We could have had some more goals, but I'm happy with the win, the clean sheet and the feeling the players have right now."

On feeling pressure: "I know there's a lot of negativity from the outside, I'm hearing. But we're not in a terrible place; we've not lost at home for three months now, we're three points off the play-offs. This league is super crazy and we haven't had a spell or run of results where we can build up momentum - and that's what we need to do.

"I understand this league very well; you win two or three games in a row and the picture and the feeling from the outside completely changes. Most importantly, internally, with the group, with the players, they're still there, they still believe, they're still running, still fighting and they deserved that today."

'Arrogant' and 'miles off it' - Wilder's rant after Sheff Utd defeat

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Sheffield United's Chris Wilder speaking to Sky Sports Football:

"We took shortcuts. It's as disappointing a 45-49 minutes as I've had in a long, long time. I thought we were miles off of it. We looked quite arrogant in our approach, thought the game would just come to us.

"We were OK first half, we created some really big chances. Smelt a little bit of vulnerability and got after it, but we have to put teams to bed in that half. I just think they thought the game would just come to them, the players.

"I've got to say I apologise to our travelling supporters because they didn't deserve that second half. We've got to own it and go back to square one. It's a massive backward step tonight.

"Maybe players thought that, second half, we would just turn up and we'll just do what we did first half and maybe there won't be as much of a reaction from the opposition. Poor goals to give away.

"I've got to say I think we've dodged a bullet. I think that, quite easily, could have been three, four, five. So that was the scale of what I thought our performance was second half. We came to life in the last five or 10 minutes. Too late to do that. And if you try and shortcut a game at any level, you'll get punished.

"The [second] goal was a terrible goal. We tried to flick one round the edge of the box late, outside their box. They counter, the centre-half is not strong enough. I'm not even interested in is it a foul or not. It's not a foul. It's an excuse.

"From then on, we just lost all our shape, we lost all our belief, we lost all our calmness and composure. I think it became a pretty comfortable second half. Two full-backs were poor in possession. Two centre-halves didn't deal with a centre-forward, didn't deal with a run.

"Midfield players, I'd give Jairo [Riedewald] a little bit of a pass because he's been ill, but we needed him back in. [Ollie] Arblaster came on and gave us something. We had to go with Gus [Hamer] in the middle of the park late on.

"Two centre-forwards, second half didn't do anything. Two wide players didn't do anything.

"When I'm talking in terms of those sort of comments regarding players, second half to the first half, we're all after consistency. We've had it for six, seven, eight games, thought we'd turned a corner. Maybe people have just started getting ahead of themselves a little bit. Everybody at the football club may be just thinking play-offs. If we win tonight, we get to five points off the play-offs.

"If we carry on that second-half performance in the games coming up, we'll be back where we were when I first took over.

"It's not what I look for in the Sheffield United performance and the Sheffield United individual performance as well. If I was one of the boys that have not played tonight, I think it's wide open. Maybe a couple of them have just got a little bit too comfortable or whatever. I don't know. Didn't see it coming.

"Talked about an opportunity for us, not being disrespectful. Everybody smelt it around the ground, even the atmosphere before the game was pretty quiet. We said we had to be careful, it's a dangerous game. If we made poor decisions, then we allow the opposition to grab onto it. Obviously, it's a great ball and it's a great finish, but it occurred because we tried to do something that we didn't need to do right on the edge of the box.

"We talked about the runs, all the analysis we did on the centre-forward. He goes away and he gets across the near and he gets across the near again. Might as well have chucked that laptop in the bin and all that analysis that we did. That was the feel of the game.

"I apologise and the players should, because that is miles off where I see us being individually and as a team."

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