Sheffield United kept within four points of leaders Reading with this victory and manager Neil Warnock was delighted with it all from his own team’s perspective. “There was not a weakness anywhere,” he said after the game. “That is as good as we have played, 
“We were strong in every department and I am pleased after the knock backs we had just before the game with both Kabba (hamstring) and Gillespie (ill) dropping out. And besides Shipperley and Montgomery haven’t trained this week because of injuries.
“Shipperley just keeps going and he makes me feel good because he looks older than me. They just couldn’t cope with him and that helped take all the pressure off Danny Webber.
“The back lads were solid and
Steve Cotterill pulled no punches after the game and agreed that the best side had won. “I thought they were better than us today,” he admitted after we suffered our heaviest league defeat since October of last year.
“In the first twenty minutes I thought it could have been a good top six, top seven clash but then they got a stranglehold of the game and they were the better team. We didn’t maintain our first twenty minutes and that probably contributed to our downfall. Maybe if the first half chances had gone in, it could have been a different story but I felt they deserved the three points.
“We have to be honest and I think my assumptions are honest, they are a good team and were better than us. Players are below par sometimes and I don’t know if we were below par or if Sheffield United were just better than us, but I would probably say they were better than us. They have some good quality players and good ones to come off the bench. That’s it really.”
It’s not often Steve singles out an opposition player but he did speak about two goal striker Neil Shipperley. “He was outstanding for them and the best player on the pitch,” he said. “That was probably the best forward performance against us this season. He was head and shoulders above everyone else and everything went through him.
“But he had ten good team mates with him whereas we maybe had three good players and that is not enough to win you a match.”
His final word was for the Burnley fans when he claimed, “The best part of