“Stick Together as a Team” – Sheffield United Match Winner on Squad Character & Depth | OneFootball

Despite another unconvincing performance, Sheffield United claimed a 2-1 win over Portsmouth in a game where Pompey missed three or four huge opportunities, and had a goal disallowed.

United found the breakthrough in the 24th minute. Ben Brereton Diaz played a well-timed pass to Gustavo Hamer, who showed great composure to cut inside and slot the ball into the bottom far corner.

The away side, however, responded just three minutes later. Josh Murphy delivered a teasing low cross that full-back Connor Ogilvie turned in at the near post to bring his side level.

The visitors came close to taking the lead before halftime. Ritchie had a free-kick saved, Murphy struck the crossbar from long range, and Ogilvie missed a golden opportunity from a set-piece, failing to hit the target.

Portsmouth continued their strong performance after the break when Colby Bishop thought he had put them ahead when he converted Murphy’s free-kick at the back post, but the assistant referee’s flag ruled it out for offside.

With just 30 minutes to go, Chris Wilder turned to the bench to make a triple substitution in hopes of impacting the flow of the game, bringing on Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Sam McCallum and Sydie Peck. And United’s performance did certainly improve but they were still struggling to create a clear chance. This all changed when Rhian Brewster entered the fray with a little over 15 minutes remaining.

Rhian Brewster played a crucial role in the winning goal. On the left side of the penalty area, Brewster played a perfectly weighted low cross to the back post to set up Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who made no mistake in the 73rd minute.

Sheffield United Match Winner: Jesurun Rak-Sakyi Urges Blades to “Build” From Tough Win

Despite the victory, goal scorer Jesurun Rak-Sakyi acknowledged that Sheffield United were far from their best.

“Every week isn’t going to be our best, but all we can do is stick together as a team, and that’s what we did today,” Rak-Sakyi said after the match on SUTV.

Reflecting on his winning goal, he added: “It was good; always nice to get on the scoresheet. Obviously, it wasn’t the best performance from the team today, which we know, but it’s important that we build from it. We’re happy to get the three points.”

With Sheffield United in a tight race for promotion, Rak-Sakyi emphasised the importance of squad depth and competition for places in this final portion of the campaign.

“Everyone wants to play, everyone’s here to play, everyone’s pushing each other, so it makes training ten times harder and sets the standards high. It’s good to have a lot of good players around to help the team because, at the end of the day, we all want to be successful at the end of the season.”

While the Blades moved back into the automatic promotion spots, Rak-Sakyi insisted the squad remains focused on one game at a time. “Everyone’s aware of the table, but we’re taking it game by game, focusing on ourselves; trying to improve week in, week out.”

Sheffield United will have a quick turnaround as they host playoff hopefuls Middlesbrough in midweek.