Chris Wilder admitted that his temper got the better of him after he was involved in an altercation with Plymouth players following Sheffield United’s defeat. The Blades’ chances of achieving automatic promotion from the Championship took a serious blow as Plymouth came from 1-0 down to score two late goals on Saturday.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi put the away side ahead just before the break, but the league’s bottom side fought back admirably late on. Ryan Hardie netted from close range to equalise in the 81st minute before Muhamed Tijani volleyed in the winner after 88 minutes.
Victory moved Argyle to within two points of safety with four matches remaining, but put a huge dent in United’s chances of catching Leeds and Burnley. Wilder’s side are now five points adrift of the top two and emotions were running high after the final whistle.
The Blades boss took exception to Plymouth’s players celebrating their win in front of the away fans and went over to Mustapha Bundu and Darko Gyabi to remonstrate.
He had a few choice words for the Plymouth substitutes before heading down the tunnel, where Sky Sports’ cameras showed a confrontation between the two sets of players, with some pushing and shoving going on.
Asked about what happened, Wilder tried to play it down. “Nothing really. Absolutely nothing really,” Wilder told Sky Sports. “They’re celebrating a big win coming off [the pitch] and unfortunately our supporters are in the stand right next to the tunnel so, yeah. Get everybody in. I spoke to their manager, he’s as good as gold and he understands the situation just as much as I do and the referee and the assessor.
“Emotions run high in a game of football, which I’ve always said especially for their boys as well, because it’s a huge win for them. I’m sure if we had won the game today it would have made it doubly difficult for them to stay up in the division.
“So they’ve given themselves a fighting chance of staying in the division and we have given up another massive opportunity to stay in touch and to close the gap to Leeds United and Burnley.
“We’re not in a great position because of a week full of poor results and we have to accept that and own that and we certainly will. We’ll reset on Monday and go and get another result on Friday.”
Sheffield United will likely have to settle for a place in the play-offs after three successive defeats in the Championship. They will attempt to turn things around when they host Cardiff on Friday night, while Plymouth travel to play-off-chasing Middlesbrough.
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