Reading 0-1 Sheffield United: Iliman Ndiaye winner strengthens Blades promotion bid
- Published
- comments
Iliman Ndiaye went off injured just seven minutes after scoring his 12th of the season
Sheffield United strengthened their Championship promotion hopes as they beat Reading thanks to Iliman Ndiaye's second-half winner.
Oli McBurnie did well to keep a through ball in play and cut it back for Ndiaye to tap in just before the hour.
Blades goalkeeper Wes Foderingham then did well to tip over Andy Carroll's powerful header as the Royals pressed fruitlessly for an equaliser.
A first win in four league away matches extends United's advantage over third-placed Middlesbrough to seven points and cuts Burnley's lead at the top to a still sizable 10 points.
United's fifth successive win at Reading ended the Royals' seven-match unbeaten run at home, stretching back to 4 November, and leaves Paul Ince's side in 15th, 11 points adrift of the play-off places.
Paul Heckingbottom's side had lost three of their previous four Championship games and started sluggishly, with Tom Ince allowed to run towards the box and direct a shot back across goal and past the far post.
The Blades enjoyed two-thirds of possession and grew into a quiet first half, but Reading carried the greater threat, with Ince heavily involved, without forcing Foderingham into a save.
Carroll's curling shot from range finally made the Blades keeper work as Reading started the second half brightly, but they soon fell behind to what was only Ndiaye's second league goal in his past 16 league appearances.
The Senegal forward's evening was soured moments later as he was forced off injured, and his team-mate James McAtee also went off with a knock.
Yet Ndiaye's replacement Billy Sharp almost added a late second, latching on to Jack Robinson's through ball and crashing a shot which Reading keeper Joe Lumley acrobatically tipped over the bar.
Reading boss Paul Ince said:
"We played well tonight, we did really well. I'm just disappointed that we didn't get anything from the game. It was a great response after the poor second half against Middlesbrough last week [a 5-0 defeat]. It was a good reaction.
"You're playing a team that could go up automatically or via the play-offs but we competed with them and played some good football.
"We mixed it up well and, in the last 15 minutes, they [United] were just kicking it up the park and you could see them at panic stations. I get that, today was obviously a massive win for them because it puts them seven points clear of Boro.
"But, for us, it was just so disappointing because we played so well and we deserved something at the end."
Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"I'm really pleased with the first half in terms of the tempo we played at and how we passed the ball. We wanted to create more chances and we weren't getting in behind them often enough.
"So we wanted to take more risks, make more runs. For us to get the goal in that way was really pleasing and then I thought we managed the game well.
"We looked like an average Championship team [in Saturday's defeat at Blackburn] where it could have easily gone your way. We want to play with a bit more fire and a bit more identity about us, and we had that today."