Adkins sees signs of life from Blades

ALL is not entirely well at Bramall Lane ahead of Athletic’s visit.

The run of winless games in Sky Bet League One for the pre-season title favourites is now up to six, following a 1-1 draw at Barnsley in which the home side levelled at the death.

That contest followed on from a shock 4-2 home loss to Shrewsbury which left manager Nigel Adkins — an expert at promotion from this level — contemplating chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” from his club’s supporters.

But though Conor Hourihane’s bolt from the blue denied the red half of Sheffield a rare three points to cheer, Adkins at least sensed there was some improvement from his charges heading into Saturday’s FA Cup second-round tie.

“We’ve created chances, we were very competitive in nature, but we didn’t get the victory or the clean sheet that we wanted,” he said.

Adkins accepts that his large squad is in need of streamlining, as he bids to redress a remarkable lack of form on home soil.

United have lost nine times at Bramall Lane in 2015 — only one fewer than Athletic — and at present, the gap of 12 points between the 12th-placed Blades and Coventry in second looks a very large one in the race for automatic promotion.

Recent history suggests the omens for manager David Dunn’s side are positive. Athletic have not lost any of their past five outings at Bramall Lane, a sequence including the 3-2 win from four seasons ago when Shefki Kuqi converted a last-minute penalty.