Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder rubbished criticism of his tactics after their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
The Blades ended Villa’s run of 15 consecutive home victories as Cameron Archer in the 88th minute shocked the hosts before Nicola Zaniolo’s injury-time equaliser.
Wilder smiled later: “Dear me, where do we start? It always seems like when we come to Villa Park it seems to be quite an interesting night, to put it mildly, and it was tonight. Of course we’re up against a team on a fabulous run, that have swatted aside better teams than us.
“I’m not going to be embarrassed in terms of the plan we had because we have to have a structure. Adding to the injuries and unavailability of some of the players, and the amount of minutes some of them can do, and giving some boys early starts in my second tenure, learning about those players, and the lack of time we have on the training ground, I think it’s a good effort.
“It’s not anti-football; it’s up to the opposition to break us down. Because they’re the ones at home and the ones in-form. You do get close, as we did, and you get to 98, 99 minutes and you’re ultimately a little bit disappointed. But when my head goes on the pillow tonight, we can be pleased with our efforts and it’s something to work with.”
He added: “We had a structure and were better on the ball when we got the Hamers and McAtees on to the pitch.
“Delighted to get in front, but disappointed with the goal. It’s a fabulous ball in and a great header, but from our point of view it’s a poor goal.
“We have it away cheaply on the halfway line, we don’t stop the cross and the boy drifts in between our defenders and the goalkeeper. So that’s a difficult one to take. But hopefully we can keep moving forward.”
