Comeback kings Sheffield United again displayed their powers of resilience to
stretch their unbeaten run to 15 games and move within three points of an
automatic promotion place in Division One.
When Alan Quinn fired The Owls into the lead at the start of the second half,
manager Chris Turner's side appeared set for their first league success at
Bramall Lane for 36 years and a fourth win in five league matches which would
have lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since October.
But Neil Warnock has fashioned a team of steely resolve these days - apt for a
city which has made its name on such a product - as they have already shown this
season in Worthington Cup ties against Leeds and Liverpool.
Two goals in four minutes turned the game on its head as United finally found
a way past an impressive Kevin Pressman, who had kept his side in the match with
a string of excellent first-half saves.
Dean Windass, signed on loan from Middlesbrough until the end of the
season, first rattled a close-range left-foot shot against the angle of bar and
post in the fifth minute.
The rebound fell to Peter Ndlovu for a looping eight-yard header which
Pressman brilliantly tipped over into The Kop, and it was not long before the
veteran was called upon to save his side again.
Windass, who scored three goals in four games for United during a month-long
loan towards the end of last year, was foiled at point-blank range by Pressman,
resulting in a deserving pat on the back for the 35-year-old from the Blades
forward.
On the half-hour Windass then turned on a headed through ball from Phil
Jagielka, only to crack a right-footer narrowly over at a time when Wednesday's
defence were creaking, with new skipper Darryl Powell - signed on a 18-month
deal this week after his recent release from Birmingham - doing little to stem
the tide.
Wednesday briefly freed themselves from their red-and-white shackles, only for
the brilliance of Pressman to again come to the fore five minutes from the
interval when he spread himself to keep out Kabba's close-range header from a
Windass cross.
It would have been an injustice for Wednesday to have headed into the dressing
room a goal to the good, but that was almost the case on the stroke of
half-time.
A Shefki Kuqi run and cross delivered through the six-yard box just evaded
Michele di Piedi, the Italian starting his first league game for 15 months, the
last occasion ironically being a derby clash at Hillsborough.
But within two minutes of the restart Wednesday threatened a repeat of their
2-0 Hillsborough win at the start of September when they were also thoroughly
outplayed on that occasion by their cross-city rivals.
Quinn, who had not scored in 22 appearances this season until firing home the
first goal in Saturday's astonishing 3-2 comeback win at home to Reading, made
it two in two matches as the Owls lit the blue-and-white touchpaper to a superb
second half.
Quinn's flick-on appeared to be intended for di Piedi returning to an onside
position, but when it was clear the striker was not going to make a move for the
ball, it was left to the 23-year-old Dubliner to chase.
The midfielder's pace took him past covering captain Robert Page before
burying a right-foot shot beyond the approaching Kenny from just inside the
18-yard box.
But as Warnock has often stated this season, his players' never-say-die
approach has won them countless league points and taken them to within 90
minutes of a place in the Worthington Cup final.
Wednesday had been brave in the tackle, but in the 61st minute Stuart McCall
won a ball he perhaps had no right to, enabling Kabba to stretch and beat
Pressman with a right-foot shot from eight yards.
Just three minutes later, with Blades fans still catching their breath, United
then took the lead courtesy of a stunning 20-yard right-foot volley from Michael
Brown - his ninth goal of the season.
United were not finished and Wayne Allison, a 72nd minute sub for Windass,
touched home from close range after a superb jinking run and cross from Kabba
six minutes later.
So for close friends Turner and Warnock, it was the latter who ended up with a
smile on his face.
Teams
Sheff Utd: Kenny, Jagielka, Murphy, Page, Quinn, Brown,
McCall (Montgomery 87), Tonge, Ndlovu, Windass (Allison 73),
Kabba (Peschisolido 79).
Subs Not Used: Mooney, de Vogt.
Booked: Tonge, Page.
Goals: Kabba 62, Brown 65, Allison 78.
Sheff Wed: Pressman, Geary, Maddix, Monk, Westwood, Johnston,
Powell, Robinson, Quinn, Di Piedi (Knight 73), Kuqi.
Subs Not Used: Haslam, Green, Crane, Evans.
Booked: Geary, Powell, Johnston.
Goals: Quinn 47.
Att: 28,179
Ref: R Styles (Hampshire).
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