Chris Wilder hails ‘a good night’ for Sheffield Utd as Blades top Championship

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder said he and his players “can be very pleased with ourselves” after a convincing 3-1 home win against Coventry sent his side back to the top of the Sky Bet Championship.

Gus Hamer’s brilliant free-kick against his former club gave the Blades a first-half lead and after Tyrese Campbell had put the Blades 2-0 up at half-time, Rhian Brewster slammed home a game-clinching third.

The Blades sealed their 10th win in their last 13 league matches to open up a three-point lead over second-placed Yorkshire rivals Leeds, who play Swansea at home on Saturday.

Wilder said: “It’s a good night for us yes. We can’t get away from the fact. It was a good performance, a game of high quality, technical.

“The bit in between (the goals), it was give and take. Obviously the goals will be talked about and quite rightly so.

“We’ve got some good players at the top of the pitch to counter and be clinical. I thought our third was an outstanding team goal.

“Then for 10 or 15 minutes we were really rampant. But respect for Coventry City, the run that they’ve been on, the players that they’ve got.

“So to win a game of football in the manner that we did, we can be very pleased with ourselves.”

The Blades also stole a march on Burnley, climbing five points clear of their other automatic promotion challengers, who face Bristol City at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Wilder added: “I’m not cranking any pressure up. It’s just a narrative everyone wants to get involved with. The points are important at the start of the season and the end.

“To get out of a division, you’ve got to show an incredible amount of qualities. Whether we play first or second it will all even itself out.

“No doubt the other two teams will have the bit between their teeth in the next game or two.”

Coventry had won 10 of their previous 12 league games to catapult themselves into play-off contention and manager Frank Lampard made no complaints about his side.

He said: “We started pretty well against a good team, moved it well and showed some real confidence in how we want to play.

“Not too many chances, but football can be won and lost in critical moments. A quality free-kick. They were more clinical in our box than we were in theirs. They defended their box really well.

“But you’ve also got to handle losing. You can’t keep winning, so understanding why we lost, understanding the details, then focusing through to the Burnley game (next Saturday) will be key.”

Lampard added he was “a bit concerned” after revealing Oliver Dovin could have sustained knee ligament damage in a challenge with Blades striker  Campbell, which saw the Sky Blues goalkeeper carried off on a stretcher before half-time.