Sheffield United were yet again unable to make use of home advantage as they drew yet again at Bramall Lane against a poor Doncaster Rovers side. The Blades were improved from the poor performance in the week but they were still far from impressive and poor final balls, wayward shooting and indecision in the final third cost them the victory. After United had started the season well; they have now only won one game in the last 5 despite playing some of the lower ranked sides in the division. Today they will feel that they have thrown away 2 points as they controlled most of the game but were unable to make or take clear chances and what should have been a comfortable victory ended in a drab draw.
The game began with United making a number of changes with Taylor, Kilgallon, Harper and Cotterill all making way for Stewart, Davies, Little and Cresswell. Rovers did not have the injured Brian Stock nor on loan Billy Sharp in their starting line up. After a minutes applause for the late Dave Kilner; the game began with Doncaster starting in determined mood and they had a chance in the opening minute. Shiels shot fortunately lacked power and this saved a dozy looking home side. Evans then fired wide after a good run by Stewart and the striker will have felt he should have done better after being well found. United then forced 3 straight corners. Davies had two headers over the bar and Montgomery had a shot deflected wide.
United had been slow to start initially but they had taken a grip of the game and the game was now being played almost exclusively in the opponents half. However, the shooting was woeful with efforts from Evans and Quinn not going close to the goal. United's best effort came when Hird ricocheted the ball inadvertently towards his own goal but Sullivan reacted well. Evans nodded wide when well placed and the Blades seemed in complete control without having the goals to backup their superiority.
It was a shock to the home fans then when Rovers broke away and scored not long before the half time break. Woods initially got away from Montgomery and after the ball was not cleared the ball was lofted over the centre of the defence by Shiels. HAYTER was onto it and seemed in a good position to score but he checked back inside and it seemed the chance had gone as United got defenders back. However, Hayter did get his shot away and the ball took a horrible deflection off Morgan who was attempting to make the block and the ball looped over the grounded Bunn. Despite the length stoppage time after the earlier injuries, Sullivan pushed away Cresswell's shot after good work from Henderson and thus Rovers went into the break with an undeserved lead.
France came on for injured Montgomery and went into the central position as United sought to get back into the game. Little was becoming more prominent and his clever football brain was coming to the fore. Roberts was booked for time wasting as early as the 53rd minutes as Doncaster made their intentions clear. Evans shot across goal and then Little fired over. On a couple of occasions United actually overplayed the ball when a shooting opportunity looked to have been presented.
Finally just after the hour United were on level terms and it was the two new wide men who combined to excellent effect. Little created space with neat footwork and then sent over a delightful cross over the centre backs and keeper Sullivan that cried out for the finishing touch from a teammate. CRESSWELL came in and bravely dived into head the ball home into the empty net. The goalscorer briefly received treatment but was fit to continue.
United could sense the three points were for the taking and Rovers continued to sit back. From Little's free kick they really ought to have scored but Henderson hit the post with Sullivan motionless. Treacy came on and played wide left replacing Evans with Cresswell going alongside Henderson. Cotterill also came on for the tiring Little who got warm applause.
Rovers did have a flurry of possession and chances for 5 minutes as the game entered its closing stages. Woods had a free kick into the wall from a dangerous position and then Chambers shot was blocked from Walker as Doncaster had suddenly come to life.
Walker played a one two with Little and saw Sullivan tip over his stinging effort as the young full back looked for his first goal for the club and the winner. An additional 4 minutes of time were played but despite United now being firmly on the offensive and pumping numerous balls into the box from corners they could not create anything of significance before the full time whistle.
United - It was better than Tuesday but still not great. We did try and pass the ball a little better today and really ought to have won the game against woeful opponents. The game itself was a really poor contest with little to no quality and not much football. United still had major faults but had most of the game and got in fairly decent positions but our shooting and final ball was appalling and as a result despite having most of the game we did not have that many chances on goal. Even when good crosses came in the front two did not attack the ball enough or get in good positions. Little offered some creativity but overall we lacked guile and nous yet again and struggled to create clear chances. We looked very slow with the front 4 all tortoise like in pace and despite our height advantage in these positions, particularly wide did not make chances from the crosses that came in.
Evans has been a massive disappointment so far. I was fairly impressed in the Watford game but since then he had done little to nothing and looks like he is just going through the motions. For 3 million pounds I expect much more and he is hardly proving people wrong who said he was good enough to still play in the top flight. Henderson does a steady job as a target man but spends most of the game tussling instead of concentrating on the ball. He does need a fast foil alongside him I think.
Missing Ward has been a huge blow and we lack that spark and pace. Cotterill has not really done it this year and it means we are still nowhere near finding our best eleven. We were ok at the back save for Bunn's hesitancy and Stewart who on that performance is no better than what we already had and is a signing for the sake of making a signing. He belies Blackwell's quality not quantity comment.
We have now only 1 win in 5 and lost or failed to beat some of the poorer sides. Only picking up 2 points from 6 against Ipswich and Doncaster is not good enough. Equally it concerns me that we now have harder home games to come against Cardiff and Newcastle.
I actually think we have regressed since the season started and are going backwards in results and performances. I cannot see how we can turn it around. We have signed about 10 loan players but the team changes most weeks despite it being a small squad. It does appear like Blackwell is struggling to push the team on further and I worry that the season may peter out to mid table mediocrity if things carry on. Part of me thinks we need more quality and creativity but then on paper signings like Evans and Harper were excellent but they have not really improved things. Maybe it is the coaching as much as the personnel but things have to improve. Sure we are around the playoff zone but I actually can see things getting worse before they get better especially with an already small squad losing players all the time to injury.
Doncaster - Last year we played them twice and they zipped the ball about; looked enterprising and were a breath of fresh air in comparison to our direct approach. Today they actually played even less football than us and we did not play much. They were really poor and save for a spell towards the end when they had a few decent openings, they barely had a shot all game. They were lucky with the goal and overall they had a lot of luck in terms of run of the ball, the post saving them and could have conceded a penalty. Without Stock (and Wellens) they do not look the same team. They did not keep the ball well and spent a good portion of the game time wasting or kicking the ball into touch. I was really surprised how bad they were. I can barely think of a player who impressed me. However, they got a valuable point on the road and we were not good enough to beat them so all the above does not matter. They will be in for a season of struggle on that showing though.
:: Player Ratings ::
Bunn 6/10 - Looks short of confidence after conceding so many goals in recent games and arguably at fault for two or three of them. He was slow to come off his line throughout the game and there was little to no communication between him and his defence. This is a stark contrast to the opening games where he liked to boss things. He had little chance with the goal as it was an unfortunate deflection and he had committed to the early shot. He did not have that much else to do in terms of actual saves.
Walker 7/10 - Some poor things in terms of defensive work and I feel he has made some mistakes in recent weeks in terms of trying to be too clever but he got stronger as the game went on and was one of the focal points of our attacks. Had a great shot on goal and was involved in most of our better things combining well with Little.
Stewart 5/10 - Not surprised he came in for Taylor as he had been poor in recent weeks but Stewart was even worse! He started the game ok and put one or two good balls in but he gradually started lumping the ball and he was very hesitant for the remainder of the game. He was constantly out of position and lost his man countless times. When is Naysmith back?!
Morgan 7/10 - Decent enough game but he did not have much to do due to Doncaster only employing one striker. Maybe he was a little hesitant to react on the goal as it was a basic ball over the top and caught him on his heels; in fairness he did try to react but only succeeded in deflecting the ball past his keeper. Won the usual array of headers and clearances.
Davies 7.5/10 - Thought he had his best game for the club. Won all his challenges, defended sensibly and tried to use the ball when he could. Maybe now he is getting match fitness back he will show the same level of play but of course you cannot leave Kilgallon out can you?
Montgomery 6/10 -he was no worse than anyone else in the first half and did his usual job in the centre of the park as United controlled the game without completely dominating. However he should not have let Woods get away when he had a chance to clear and this led to the goal. Losing him for a long period of action as it seems is the case if it is cruciate damage could be a real blow as he has been one of our most consistent players this year and we do not have anyone who can do the sort of job he does.
Quinn 6/10 - Some good things; some bad things. Annoying aimless hook over his shoulder continues and he rushes things way too much instead of picking out a red and white shirt. Despite this he also made some good tackles, tried to get forward and support and was by no means the worst player.
Henderson 5.5/10 - Spent most of the game wrestling with the centre back and although showed some good hold up play and headers; he tired badly after the break. He did very little in the second half but he still should have scored with the header that hit the woodwork when he was completely unmarked. His partnership with Evans is not really working for me. Felt we did put some decent crosses in second half but both were on their heels today.
Evans 5/10 - Still far from convincing. I do not want to write him off yet as an expensive flop but equally if someone came in for him after Christmas and we got our money back I would take it on current form. This may sound harsh but he is just not contributing enough at all. He is not scoring (missed 2 good chances today in the first half) and not doing enough for the team. His body language is worryingly poor and his head goes down too easily.
Little 7/10 - He may be slow, unathletic and barely able to last one half let alone two but he still offered some real moments of class in a game full of largely poor performers. He actually did not get as many crosses in as I would have liked and at times he was clearly treading water (in terms of fitness) but he is a sensible footballer who reminds me a bit of Gillespie (when he first came). He produced the cross of the game that led to the goal that took out both centre backs and the keeper. Shame we only will be able to offer largely cameos.
Cresswell 7/10 - Thought he did alright today. Set about proving the idiots who booed him wrong with some lung busting runs to track back and a number of crunching tackles. Took his goal well with a brave header and although he is not a classic left winger type, his heading ability can cause problems when he isolates on the full back as he did today. Did not look a threat when moved to a more central position.
Subs-
France 7/10 - Actually did alright when he came on. Not sure whether that is his best position or whether he has a 'position' but he kept it simple, broke things up when he could and used the ball fairly well.
Cotterill - Thought he would be a good substitute with the full back tiring and us on the offensive but it did not really happen. He did not really get one telling cross in despite a few runs down the right wing as he took too long and delayed too much.
Treacy - Had a few decent runs forward and showed his excellent touch but like Cotterill did not get any telling crosses in really and tried a few speculative shots when there was easier balls on.
Referee - A strange display. In the first half he let everything go and I mean everything. I like to see referees keep things flowing but it got a bit daft at times but generally he did alright in the first half. In the second half he started to give some baffling decisions and I felt started to lose control a bit. As for the 2 handballs in quick succession, I cannot totally blame the referee as the linesman on the far side was in an ideal position. The first one would have been harsh but the one on Chambers looked a definite handball and I was surprised it was not given.
Crowd/Atmosphere - Thought it was a really poor game and this filtered to the stands and it was very quiet for a Yorkshire derby. Doncaster did not even fill the lower tier and I thought there would have been more there than 26,000. It just seemed a flat game and it was flat in the stands. The boos were harsh at half time but I think this was more a case of frustration than anything else as Doncaster had never been in the game. United fans on the Kop briefly tried to get the team going early in the second half but after we equalised we did not quite push on as hoped and the game kind of petered out.