Vfl Bochum 0-0 Sheffield United: Blades Lack Cutting Edge in Germany to End Pre-season | OneFootball

Sheffield United and Bochum were locked in a stalemate in front of a decent crowd in Germany on Saturday afternoon.

Both sides made the goalkeeper work but some strong defending and decent shot-stopping earned clean sheets for each team.

Lineups

Bochum: Horn, Karademir, Cokaj, Mbom, Taz, Olsen, Steinwender, Miyoshi, Wittek, Hofmann, Crimaldi.

Subs: Casali, Holtman, Hanslik, Pannewig, Drakas, Meyer, Koscierski, Isbruch, Schjott, Sawas.

Blades: Cooper, McCallum (Norrington-Davies 81), Tanganga, Hamer, Cannon (Campbell 71), O’Hare, Donovan (Chong 64), Baptiste, Seriki (Doherty 71), Peck (Arblaster 64), Riedewald (Rothwell 64).

Unused: Davies, Betts, Shackleton, Zatterstrom, McGuinness, Oné, Blacker, Sidibe.

First Half

The German hosts came flying out of the blocks and tested Chris Wilder’s side from the opening whistle. Michael Cooper was quickly called into action to deny Koji Miyoshi, while Hoffman’s effort drifted wide of the target. Taz also caused problems with a driving run through the United defence, only to be thwarted by another smart stop from Cooper inside the opening quarter of an hour.

After surviving that early spell, the Blades gradually began to settle. Gustavo Hamer was at the heart of their best attacking move of the first half, picking out Callum O’Hare, whose curling strike was expertly pushed away by goalkeeper Horn.

Despite United growing into the contest, the better openings before the interval continued to fall the home side’s way. Cooper remained alert to keep out Crimaldi, and when the United goalkeeper was finally beaten, Jamal Baptiste came to his rescue with an excellent goal-saving block to deny Miyoshi.

Second Half

The visitors emerged with far greater intent after the break and immediately began to dictate proceedings. Sam McCallum’s cross took a heavy deflection and dropped invitingly for Romelle Donovan at the back post, but the winger was unable to react quickly enough to convert.

Moments later, Tom Cannon cut inside from the right and unleashed a powerful effort that forced another impressive save from Horn, who was becoming increasingly difficult to beat.

Joe Rothwell, introduced from the bench, added fresh energy in midfield and carved out another opportunity when he teed up Hamer, although the Dutch midfielder’s strike drifted narrowly wide.

Hamer then turned creator, lofting a superb ball which sent O’Hare through on goal, but Horn produced arguably the save of the afternoon to keep the midfielder’s effort out. The goalkeeper was called into action once more to deny Hamer himself as Sheffield United continued to pile on the pressure during the closing stages.

Attention will now turn to next week when Sheffield United play their first competitive fixture of the campaign when they entertain Mansfield Town in the EFL Cup on Sunday afternoon.