Sheffield United 2-0 Norwich City: FLW report as Burrows brace sends Blades top of the Championship | OneFootball

FLW reports as Sheffield United go top of the Championship table with a 2-0 win over Norwich City

Sheffield United have gone top of the Championship table following a 2-0 victory over Norwich City, courtesy of a brace from left-back Harrison Burrows.

The Blades headed into their clash with the Canaries knowing that if they could find their first home win since a 2-0 triumph over Plymouth Argyle in mid-December, they would head top of the Championship table, following Burnley's draw with Sunderland on Friday night, while fellow title challengers Leeds United were not in action until Sunday lunchtime.

Meanwhile, Johannes Hoff Thorup's men were looking to upset one of the division's pace setters, knowing a victory of their own would enhance their chances of landing a play-off spot for the second consecutive season.

Sheffield United 2-0 Norwich City: High-flying Blades go top of Championship

The opening exchanges at Bramall Lane were somewhat uneventful, as both sides looked to settle into the game on a cold afternoon in South Yorkshire.

But by the quarter-of-an-hour mark, the Blades conjured up the game's first meaningful opportunity of the game, as Tom Davies teed up Rhian Brewster, but the former Liverpool man's effort was well blocked, as United were awarded a corner.

From the second phase of the aforementioned corner, Gus Hamer struck an effort from outside the box, but Angus Gunn was able to comfortably gather.

Then, following a decent spell of play from the Canaries, the hosts looked to hit their opponents on the counter-attack, as full-back Alfie Gilchrist played a slide-rule pass to Callum O'Hare, whose cross found Brewster via a slight touch from Hamer.

But the striker's search for just his second goal of the campaign went on, as his shot deflected out of play for a corner to Chris Wilder's men once more.

From the resulting corner, the ball found its way to Sam McCallum, who was stood just outside the six-yard area, but skewed a half-volley wide of the goal against his former club.

However, a Blades side who had been in the ascendancy found their breakthrough on 22 minutes, when Burrows' long-range shot hit the right-hand post, and then kissed the opposite upright on its way to creeping over Angus Gunn's goal-line.

The travelling Canaries looked to restore parity just five minutes later, but Lewis Dobbin was unable to make a hero of himself on his first Championship start for Hoff Thorup's side, and instead fired a wild effort over Michael Cooper's crossbar.

Wilder's men then looked to double their lead, as Hamer produced a stunning effort from just inside the Canaries' half, as he spotted Gunn off his line.

However, the Scotland international was equal to the former Coventry City man's attempt, which he was able to tip over the bar.

The Blades went in search of their second once more just moments before the half-time whistle, but the Canaries keeper stood firm once more, and denied O'Hare, as he made himself big to win the one-on-one battle.

Following the break, the action started in a similarly slow manner to that of the first-half, but just shy of the hour mark it was the Blades who were on the offensive once again.

Wilder's side were awarded a free-kick on the right wing, which resulted in successive efforts from both Hamer and McCallum, shortly before the latter was fouled in the area by Ben Chrisene, as referee Josh Smith awarded the hosts a penalty.

Burrows stood over the ball from the 12-yard spot, and made no mistake as he placed his effort beyond the reach of Gunn to establish his side's two-goal cushion.

Following the Blades' second goal, which arrived on the hour mark, the Canaries struggled to claw themselves back into the game, while dangerman Josh Sargent was introduced to the action as a substitute on 64 minutes, making his first Championship outing since 27th October.

However, the USA international was denied a potential opportunity to have his say on the game, as Lucien Mahovo's cross was safely gathered by Cooper, with the striker waiting to pounce.

There would be yet more goalmouth action at the other end though, as O'Hare's cross looped into the air via Callum Doyle's boot, and Gunn denied what would have been an unfortunate own goal.

Central defender Shane Duffy went on to miss the Canaries' best opportunity of the game, as he failed to direct his header on target following a corner.

In the dying embers of the game, Burrows was unable to secure his hat-trick, as his stoppage-time effort whistled wide of Gunn's post, but the Bramall Lane faithful headed home delighted with their side's newfound top-of-the-league status.

Chris Wilder reacts as Sheffield United go top of the Championship

Following his side's 2-0 victory, Wilder was pleased with the Blades' performance, saying: "I thought it was good, against a team pretty similar to us, missing some players, but on a decent run as well.

"So, dangerous game for us, some good players, but I thought we got everything right, pretty much so.

"I thought the shape of the team out of possession was good, we knew that the two centre-halves would have a lot of the ball, and try and build through the goalkeeper, so we had to be disciplined in that.

"Thought we defended really well, back to cleansheets, which is huge for us.

"I thought the other part of the game, we were aggressive when we had to step into them in key areas, and created good chances.

"Timings of the goals were good, to get the first one, second one settled us down and I was delighted in terms of the attitude of the team after that, it looked as if they were really enjoying the afternoon.

"We never sat back, and went 4-5-1 or 4-5-1 or whatever it is and soaked it up, we went hunting and pressed really well for the third, so good afternoon for us."

Johannes Hoff Thorup outlines Norwich City frustration following defeat

Following his side's defeat at Bramall Lane, Hoff Thorup told the press: "Competitiveness, I think that's the biggest difference tonight, I think we expected to be able to dominate the game on the ball because that's also what we see from Sheffield (United), it's not that important for them to have the ball a lot, so we expected that.

"But I think the biggest difference was taking care of the moments where you're in and around the box, creating good chances.

"Like I said, being able to compete in those moments, really get your body in and create something out of it, because I think in the first-half we had many good situations, we had many good opportunities, but we don't take care of them.

"I think that's the difference, of course they get a little on top, I think the start of the second half is actually okay from us again.

"We have to be careful about conceding too many corner kicks against a team like them, but we dealt with them alright, but it's then still just at the end of a corner kick that we concede a penalty.

"If you do that at a place like this then it's just too difficult, so we have to avoid that, and we have to get rid of those mistakes that just change the game picture."

Sheffield United vs Norwich City attendance

Saturday afternoon's meeting between the Blades and the Canaries was watched by 28,329 spectators, who witnessed the South Yorkshire outfit climb to the Championship's summit.

How the Championship table looks after Blades's big win over Norwich