Sheff Utd ease to victory at Blackburn

Sheffield United made it back-to-back Championship wins with a 2-0 victory at Blackburn.

Chris Wilder’s men bossed the game from the moment Harrison Burrows’ crisp strike – his first for the club – fired them into the lead early in the first half.

They created numerous opportunities with Kieffer Moore twice going close in the second half before Tyrese Campbell’s second in as many matches just after the hour put the game to bed.

Even then, the Blades threatened to add to the lead through Gus Hamer but Wilder will be pleased with this professional performance that completely blunted Blackburn, whose unbeaten start to the season at Ewood Park comprehensively ended.

Yuki Ohashi saw a half volley well blocked as his team started well but the Blades’ growing pressure paid off in the 16th minute.

It was messy from a Rovers perspective as Joe Rankin-Costello’s hurried clearance of Vinicius Souza’s deflected shot landed straight at the feet of Burrows on the left of the area and he needed no invitation to lash home into the right corner.

They carved Blackburn open again moments later when Jesurun Rak-Sakyi’s reverse ball found Moore whose low cross was destined to give Callum O’Hare a tap-in until Dominic Hyam’s outstanding block thwarted him.

Wilder’s men were sloppy in possession at times and almost paid in the 34th minute when Ohashi broke forward and found Tyrhys Dolan whose teasing low cross was somehow missed at the back post by Ryan Hedges when an equaliser looked certain.

Blackburn were indebted to Aynsley Pears for keeping them in the game just after the restart when Oliver Arblaster’s free-kick was met by a thumping Moore header but the Rovers goalkeeper superbly tipped over.

Moore went even closer in the 56th minute when he peeled off at the far post and his header across goal beat Pears but Hyam superbly cleared off the line.

There was to be no third reprieve though as the Blades doubled their advantage in the 64th minute.

Moore was instrumental, taking his time to set up Campbell whose first shot was parried back to him by Pears but he made no mistake with the rebound, volleying powerfully into the back of the net.

Blackburn tried to hit back and Rankin-Costello curled wide soon after but Sheffield United continued to look dangerous and substitute Andre Brooks worked a decent opening in the 70th minute only to see Pears save his curling effort.

Further chances fell their way when Hamer’s instinctive shot forced a sprawling save from Pears, who came out to deny Hamer a certain third in stoppage time, but it did not matter as they cruised to victory.

The managers

Blackburn’s John Eustace:

“Obviously disappointed to lose the game. We came up against a real top team with good individuals and it’s disappointing.

“I thought first half we held our own, got some really good opportunities without making the most in the final third. Second half, I think when they scored the second goal, we kind of lost belief, the players did on the pitch did a little bit, which was disappointing.

“I thought the first half, we competed very well. We won the ball back a lot and had a lot of opportunities on that turnover, we just lacked that bit of quality in the final third.

“It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. We’re getting into good opportunities without being clinical.

“Second half, I thought we started a little bit slow but then we did have a couple of opportunities. We got going and then obviously they went and scored. We tried to change a few things around and unfortunately it didn’t work today.”

Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder:

“We’re not two or three up and we didn’t deserve to be and Blackburn have had a couple of opportunities, more with us being loose around the middle of the park, giving away balls simply where we should have kept it a little bit more or made better decisions with the ball.

“The game wasn’t done. You’ve got to fight for everything, especially against a team that have won five out of six at home.

“They’re going to come for you but I thought we really quietened that noise by our dominant second-half performance.

“They’ve had one header, a shot that went wide from distance but apart from that, I can’t remember anything else. That’s the way the game goes. They are searching to get back into it, we have quality on the counter-attack.

“I’m not going to say it should have been this, that or the other. We’d have liked to have made it a little bit simpler for us in the last 10 minutes but we didn’t. But it wasn’t for the want of trying.”