Sheffield United 2-0 Barnsley: Blades victory puts them back in play-off places
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Sander Berge (number eight) has now scored four goals for Sheffield United this season
Sheffield United climbed back into the Championship play-off places as Sander Berge's third goal in four games helped secure victory over Barnsley.
The Norway midfielder converted a second-half cross from former Tykes captain Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White made the points safe by rounding the keeper after being played in by Oli McBurnie, another ex-Barnsley player.
The visitors had gone closest before the break when midfielder Matty Wolfe forced an excellent low save from Blades keeper Wes Foderingham.
But chances were scarce once they had fallen behind and Poya Asbaghi's side now have only eight games left following the international break to extricate themselves from their precarious situation.
United's win lifted them from ninth to fourth, but they later slipped to fifth following Luton's win at Hull, while Barnsley remain 22nd, five points adrift of Reading - who they will meet at home in their next fixture on 2 April.
Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom guided Barnsley to promotion from League One in 2016 and is hoping to go one better by steering the Blades back to the top flight, just 12 months after they were relegated.
Following a run of only one win in their five previous matches, he restored Hourihane to the starting line-up but saw his team struggle to create any clear openings in the first 45 minutes.
United lost skipper Billy Sharp with a knock following the break, but by then they were already in front thanks to Berge's goal and should have doubled their lead when Gibbs-White beat the offside trap and provided a cross to Ben Osborn, who failed to hit the target.
Gibbs-White, though, made no mistake when opportunity came his way as United completed a seasonal double over their south Yorkshire rivals, having won 3-2 at Oakwell earlier in the campaign.
Carlton Morris clipped the top of the bar with a header from sub Aaron Leya Iseka's cross, but that was as close as Barnsley came to a late consolation and they have now lost 14 of their 19 games away from home this season.
United boss Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"It's been a slog for a long period of time and there have been things niggling at me like the big injury list we've had, so I think it's only just that we sign off with a win before the international break.
"Twelve thirty kick-offs can be strange, stadiums can be flat - we also looked like a team who played on Wednesday night and we needed to inject an aggressive mentality into it and just do everything quicker.
"Barnsley tried to stay with us but a good, quick free-kick, I'm delighted Sander got his goal, and we didn't really look back then."
(On possibility of signing ex-Liverpool and Derby defender Andre Wisdom) "We had Andre in training. Andre's not at the level yet for us to bring him in and use him, so we'll be looking at other options, if they are there."
Barnsley head coach Poya Asbaghi told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"Until the (first) goal, we were good - in the first half we were the better team, creating chances, and when we came out second half, it was the same, we were still pushing them back.
"When they took the lead, things changed. With the help of the home crowd, their players gained confidence suddenly and a lack of confidence in our players, these two things changed the game.
"We have to be a team that is good when we suffer (a setback). If we want to stay in this league, it's one of the things we have to develop - it's normal for a young team, but we can't wait and say 'in the future it will be better' because we have to develop this now."