Chris Wilder Offers Verdict on Blades’ Derby Victory And Red Card Incident | OneFootball

Sheffield United completed another memorable double over city rivals Sheffield Wednesday with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Bramall Lane on Sunday afternoon, a result that officially relegated the Owls.

The tone was set almost immediately. With barely 60 seconds on the clock, a dreadful attempted clearance from Ndala dropped invitingly into the path of Gustavo Hamer some 30 yards from goal. The Blades midfielder reacted in a flash, threading a perfectly weighted pass into Patrick Bamford, who showed all his experience and composure to slot home clinically beyond Seny Dieng. Wednesday were stunned before they had even settled.

The early breakthrough visibly rattled the visitors and it nearly became two in quick succession. Callum O’Hare burst forward with purpose and unleashed a fierce drive that cannoned off the outside of the post, while Japhet Tanganga blazed over after a cleverly rehearsed free-kick routine carved open the Wednesday defence.

On 19 minutes, the dominance told again. A defence-splitting pass from Sydie Peck sliced Wednesday apart, releasing Harrison Burrows in behind. The wing-back showed no hesitation, driving an emphatic finish past Dieng at his near post to double the advantage and ignite Bramall Lane.

At that stage, the contest looked in danger of becoming one-sided. Wednesday struggled to gain any foothold and offered little in response as United controlled possession and territory with authority.

However, the complexion of the derby shifted dramatically early in the second half when Kalvin Phillips was shown a straight red card for a mistimed challenge in midfield. Reduced to ten men, United suddenly faced a very different test.

Wednesday sensed an opportunity and pushed forward with renewed belief. They had not scored against Sheffield United since 2017, but that barren run finally ended when Charlie McNeil found the net to halve the deficit and inject real tension into the afternoon.

The drama was far from over. As Wednesday pressed for an equaliser, Otegbayo received his marching orders for hauling down Tyrese Campbell, restoring numerical parity and easing some of the mounting pressure on the hosts.

United had chances to seal it. Campbell and the tireless Peck both went close late on, only to be denied by impressive saves from Dieng as the clock ticked down. In the end, the Blades’ resilience proved enough to see out another Steel City derby triumph.

Chris Wilder Reacts After Sheffield United Defeat Owls

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 22: Patrick Bamford of Sheffield United celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammates during the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday at Bramall Lane on February 22, 2026 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Cameron Smith/Getty Images)

After the final whistle, speaking to SUTV, manager Chris Wilder delivered an honest assessment of the performance following another derby success.

“Different aspects, different qualities; we blew them away with a big start,” Wilder said. “We spoke about our start against Stoke and Leicester and Birmingham and Ipswich and even Middlesbrough. We blew the opposition away.

“After 25 minutes we just got a bit taking an extra touch and maybe looking for a killer ball too much instead of doing the things we were doing first 25 minutes.

“I talked to the players at half time about the eventualities of what can happen if we don’t approach it in the right way. We’re in complete control of this day, and if we lose control then they’re game and they’ve got a puncher’s chance.

“We gave them that opportunity with the decision Kalvin made. You can’t say anything other than it’s a red, and a great finish by the boy to get them back into it. Then it’s game on and we had to show different qualities, even though they never really opened us up apart from a few little forays down the left which we dealt with comfortably.”

Wilder Addresses United’s Red Card

“He’s mistimed a tackle. It’s a competitive game in the middle of the park, people make tackles and once you slow it down, as people always do, it looks pretty bad. It just looks like a mistimed tackle. Sometimes, like with Joe [Rothwell] and Kalvin when you’ve not played a lot of football recently, you can get it wrong. We suffer, but he suffers more because he’s been outstanding and got back up to speed, so to miss him for three games is disappointing.”

The victory leaves United six points adrift of the play-off places ahead of a crucial midweek clash with league leaders Coventry City.