It was difficult to put a price on this victory for Sheffield United. Chris Wilder’s side had surprisingly lost their last three games in a hugely damaging blow to their automatic promotion hopes. But Gustavo Hamer’s typically impish first-half opener and Ben Brereton Díaz’s late strike were enough to revive home spirits on a soggy evening at Bramall Lane.
Crucially, victory lifted United back to within five points of Burnley, who won 2-1 at Watford earlier in the day, ahead of the Blades’ important trip to Turf Moor on Easter Monday.
Victory in east Lancashire would keep Wilder’s team in the hunt for a top-two finish and they will head across the Pennines knowing that nothing less than three points will do.
“When you lose games you’re expected to win, getting over the line with that first win again is the hardest,” said Wilder after beating struggling Cardiff. “To get back to winning ways – with our 27th win of the season – was important.
“There were some good performances out there but we needed the result more than anything and we got it. We’ve got to set the team up in the right way on Monday and it’s going to be one hell of a game. We’re going to have to produce a performance and we’ll go into the game as chasers – Burnley will go into it as big favourites.”
United did enough, just, against Cardiff although this was no vintage display. Then again, it was probably never going to be after their recent wobble which nobody saw coming.
Wilder has seen his men lose at Oxford, at home to Millwall, and then again at Plymouth last weekend. The United manager, a fierce competitor, clashed with Argyle players and coaching staff after the 2-1 reverse at Home Park which led to both clubs being charged with misconduct by the Football Association.
The recent run of Wilder’s team had clearly dampened spirits among the Bramall Lane faithful and the miserable weather hardly helped lift the gloom. The atmosphere was flat and the swagger that United have played with for much of the season was again missing. Passes were undercooked, overhit or simply misplaced as Cardiff had few problems keeping their hosts at bay.
Cardiff threatened on the counterattack and midway through the first half but it came to nothing and from there United broke upfield. On-loan Crystal Palace winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi showed impressive skill to outfox the Cardiff captain, Callum O’Dowda, on halfway. Rak-Sakyi drove at the heart of the visitors’ defence inside the right channel before failing to get his shot away when inside the 18-yard box.
In the 33rd minute, Tyrese Campbell latched on to a clever pass from Hamer and struck a left-foot shot which deflected off a Cardiff defender. It fell kindly to the onrushing Hamer, whose deft touch with the outside of his right boot sent the ball pass Ethan Horvath from close range.
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Seven minutes before the break, Hamer curled a delightful right-footed free-kick against the outside of Horvarth’s left-hand post with the visiting goalkeeper beaten and then, 11 minutes into the second half, United left-back Harrison Burrows hit a fierce left-foot shot which drew a fine save from Horvarth.
Half-chances proliferated at both ends for the rest of the match before United scored again in the closing stages when Kieffer Moore’s deflected low cross from the left flank was clinically dispatched at the far post by fellow substitute Brereton Díaz.
The Cardiff manager, Omer Riza, faced chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” from visiting fans with his team winless in five and a point from safety. Neil Warnock has even been linked with a dramatic return to Cardiff as a replacement for Riza before Monday’s must-win home meeting with Oxford.
Riza, who was forced to apologise earlier in the week after labelling Cardiff supporters “clueless”, said of the abuse: “I’m very sad about it. But I need to take it on the chin and be strong for my players.”
As Cardiff fight desperately to stay in the division, Wilder and his players can prepare to face Burnley with renewed hope of maybe, just maybe, escaping it automatically.
