It seems like just five minutes since the Blades, and the Robins locked horns (so to speak). Tomorrow, it will be 110 days since United travelled to the County Ground, in a match, which surely, will never be repeated again. Despite trailing by three goals to nil after 20 minutes, the match somehow finished 5-5 on the night, with Swindon heading to Wembley, winning 7-6 on aggregate - if only that disallowed goal would have stood
Sheffield United have made a decent start to the new league season despite an opening day defeat. United lay 4th in the table after two goals without reply were enough to beat Blackpool last weekend. In midweek however, the Blades were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Fulham in a 3-0 reverse.
Ross McCormack netted twice for Fulham and Moussa Dembele added another in the second half as they comfortably disposed of nine-man Sheffield United 3-0 in their Capital One Cup second round clash at Craven Cottage. The visitors made 10 changes from the side that overcame Blackpool over the weekend, with captain James Wallace the sole survivor, while their Championship opponents kept eight of the same 11 that started against Huddersfield.
Former Millwall midfielder Martyn Woolford almost opened the scoring for the League One side on four minutes, when his shot from the edge of the box forced goalkeeper Andrew Lonergan into a low save to his left. Fulham were able to get a foothold in the game, and Ryan Tunnicliffe hit the crossbar after 12 minutes, following a square pass from Lasse Vigen Christensen. Both teams appeared keen to test their opposing goalkeepers with efforts from outside the box, both Marc McNulty for the visitors and Christensen for Fulham testing Lonergan and George Long respectively.
Dembele came close for the Cottagers on 25 minutes when he latched onto a pass from Kay Voser, but pulled his shot from the left hand side wide of the far post. Chances for both sides became more sporadic, with Fulham having the better of possession but their visitors holding firm. Captain McCormack carved out the first chance of the second half, with a shot from the edge of the area that was a routine collection by Long.
Fulham were dominating possession more and more, and were testing Sheffield United with their pace. The Blades were finally undone when McCormack was tugged back after attempting a 62nd minute bicycle kick by Craig Alcock - the captain made no mistake with the resultant spot kick, sending Long the wrong way. The goal appeared to lift the home side, who pressed for a second goal to effectively end the tie, although Dembele was guilty of two wild shots on 67 and 70 minutes.
It was left to McCormack to finally extinguish any hopes of United progressing in the competition, when with 15 minutes of the game remaining, he was able to drive from just inside the right-hand side of the penalty box low past the outstretched arms of Long. A 77th-minute bullet header from Dembele was saved by the outstretched hand of the visiting goalkeeper. Sheffield United were reduced to nine men late on, with Jose Baxter dismissed with two minutes remaining for a lunge on Tom Cairney, and Kieran Wallace after a professional foul on Dembele in injury time. Frenchman Dembele was rewarded with a goal right on the final whistle with a fierce low shot from 20 yards out.
Blades boss Nigel Adkins will be without; Matt Done (collarbone), Ryan Flynn (Achilles), Neill Collins, Stefan Scougall (both calf) and Terry Kennedy (knee) remain side-lined through injury. They will also be without duo Jose Baxter and Kieran Wallace, the pair were both dismissed in the 3-0 defeat at Fulham in the League Cup, and will both miss the trip to Swindon, as well as fixtures against Hartlepool United (a) and Colchester United (h).
Swindon Town vs. Sheffield United - League One
Saturday, 29 August 2015, Kick-Off: 3.00pm
Swindon Town made an impressive start to the new league season, Nathan Byrne netting a hat-trick as the Robins were victorious over Bradford City by four goals to one. They currently lay 6th in the table after claiming two 2-2 draws to Bury and Port Vale and a 1-0 win last weekend at Southend United, giving them an unbeaten start.
Fabien Robert's second-half strike secured Swindon a hard-fought 1-0 win at Southend. The Robins came closest to scoring in the first half with Nathan Byrne having a 20-yard shot parried to safety by Shrimpers goalkeeper Dan Bentley. But after the break, the hosts wasted two golden chances to take the lead.
With 52 minutes on the clock, an unmarked Jack Payne fired wide of the left-hand post from 12 yards after Noel Hunt had headed David Worrall's left-wing cross into his path. Moments later, Hunt was unable to convert a cross from Ben Coker as his four-yard shot looped up into the air for Swindon goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux to easily gather. And the visitors immediately made the most of the let-off by scoring what proved to be the only goal of the game in the 62nd minute, with Robert on target for the third game in succession.
The midfielder raced in behind Coker to collect Byrne's through ball and fired past Bentley with an accurate left-footed finish. Only two fine late saves from Vigouroux stopped Southend from grabbing an equaliser as he tipped over Myles Weston's close-range header before also blocking a powerful effort from Joe Pigott.
Swindon will be without Jonathan Obika due to injury, and will find themselves light in attack with Jermaine Hylton (fractured collarbone) also side-lined.
Blades-Mad Prediction: Swindon Town 1 Sheffield United 1
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