Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder admitted his side’s Premier League season is over as they cruised home to a 4-1 defeat at rivals Burnley.
Burnley struck twice within the space of two minutes just before the break after holding second for much of the primary half as they wrested control through Jacob Braun Larsson and Lorenz Asignan.
The Blades threatened a comeback when Gus Hammer reduced the deficit, but further goals from Lyle Foster and substitute Johan Berg Gudmundsson kept Burnley’s late bid for survival alive.
The Clarets move to inside three points of Seventeenth-placed Nottingham Forest, while a twenty third league defeat of the season leaves the Blades 10 off the underside of the table with five games to play.
Wilder said: “We all understand the situation. I’m not a defeatist, I’m realistic. The season has gone, really.
“We have a responsibility to our supporters and a responsibility to the league to compete as much as possible, so we’ll look at that as well.
“We’re going to make it right. We’re going to have people who want to stay here. People who want to run around and join in when the going gets tough and when we’re going right. Want to be a part of.
“In the meantime, now we have to do our greatest to make it as painless as possible because every a part of the football club goes through pain at the moment.”
Burnley goalkeeper Arijant Mork made a crucial save in both halves, while the visitors were clinical at the other end and Gudmundsson’s effort with 20 minutes remaining, less than a minute after coming off the bench, sealed the game. .
Wilder added: “I’m not going to name names, but I think there were some players out there who wanted to get out of there very quickly after going into the fourth, which you can’t have.
“I feel there have been some who desired to get out of there too early and it couldn’t occur. It’s a robust league and it has been very powerful for us all season.
Burnley recorded just their second win of the yr, but have now taken 10 points from their last seven matches and boss Vincent Kompany was pleased his players gave the impression to be holding their nerve.
The Belgian said: “You get near the tip (of the season) and this game was necessary for each teams, so I’m very comfortable with the result and the performance.
“The timing of their goal was really bad for us, it’s as bad as you possibly can get. But you must see if the team is panicking, if there are any signs, nevertheless it didn’t feel like that.
Credit : www.independent.co.uk
