Fleetwood Town 1-0 Sheffield United: Cod Army Batter Lethargic Blades | OneFootball

Sheffield United suffered a 1-0 shock defeat away at Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup on Wednesday evening.

The home side bossed the majority of the contest, and perhaps deserved their good fortune for the winning goal of the game when a teasing cross from the left met Rhys Norrington-Davies’ head at the far post and cushioned it perfectly into the bottom right corner.

Lineups

Fleetwood: Lynch, Andrew, Neal, Potter, Bennett, Helm (Haughey 89), McCann, Evans (Davies 71), Loupalo-Bi (Coughlan 71), Rooney, McLean (Murphy 79).

Unused: Pradic, Thomas, Robertson, Cirino, Dempsey.

Blades: Cooper, Doherty (Shackleton 68), Arblaster (Bamford 83), Tanganga, Rothwell (Peck 68), Cannon, Donovan, Campbell (Brereton Diaz 58), McGuinness, Norrington-Davies, Riedewald (Ayew 58).

Unused: Davies, Choudhury, Kitching, Baptiste.

First Half

The Blades almost made the perfect start when Jairo Riedewald picked out Oliver Arblaster inside the right-hand side of the Fleetwood penalty area. The midfielder managed to get a shot away, but the home defence reacted quickly to throw themselves in front of the attempt.

Fleetwood soon showed that they were capable of causing problems themselves.

Mark Helm tested Michael Cooper with a strike from distance in the seventh minute, with the Sheffield United goalkeeper making sure he was equal to the effort. From the resulting corner, Rooney rose highest but could only direct his header wide of the target.

United created another promising opening five minutes later. Romelle Donovan’s delivery found Joe Rothwell in a central position inside the box, giving the midfielder a good opportunity to open the scoring. Jay Lynch was forced into a sharp save to deny Rothwell, before Donovan fired wide when the ball dropped to him from the ensuing corner.

The chances continued to arrive at both ends as the first half progressed. Campbell broke into space down the left and unleashed a powerful effort towards the far post, but his strike drifted narrowly wide. Fleetwood’s Helm remained a threat and nearly found a way through before half-time when his dipping attempt landed on the roof of Cooper’s net.

Second Half

Fleetwood started the second half positively and Cooper was required to make another save within the opening stages. Evans found room to shoot from an angle, but Cooper stayed alert and got across to keep the effort out. The former Blades favourite was then shown a yellow card after catching McGuinness with a late challenge.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 57th minute, although Fleetwood needed a significant slice of fortune to do it. Andrew sent a deep cross into the Sheffield United penalty area from the left, but the ball took an unfortunate deflection off Norrington-Davies and changed direction before nestling in the bottom corner.

The hosts immediately went in search of a second. McCann met another delivery from the dangerous Helm, but his header lacked the direction required to beat Cooper, who gathered comfortably.

Fleetwood then appeared to have doubled their lead when Loupalo-Bi finished from close range. However, the forward had strayed beyond the last defender and the goal was ruled out for offside.

United were given another major warning shortly afterwards. In the 72nd minute, Fleetwood produced a frantic attack which ended with both McCann and Andrew hitting the woodwork during the same passage of play. The Blades somehow survived as the hosts came extremely close to putting the result beyond doubt.

Wilder’s introduction of Bamford, Peck and Ayew gave Sheffield United greater attacking threat and the visitors began to apply sustained pressure in the closing stages.

Sydie Peck came close to producing the moment United needed when he tried his luck from around 25 yards. His effort appeared destined for the top left corner, but the Fleetwood goalkeeper produced an outstanding save to preserve his side’s advantage.

Ayew then took advantage of a mistake from a defender and worked his way into a dangerous position before attempting to tee up Cannon. The striker looked to have a chance to finally break Fleetwood’s resistance, only for former Blade Potter to make a superb defensive block and somehow prevent the ball from reaching the net.

After crashing out of the EFL Cup, the Blades will now prepare for a visit to Stoke City in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.