Blade stunners

Photo: Pictures by ALAN HOWARTH

FLYING FINN: Shefki Kuqi marks Athletic’s winning goal in stoppage time with his trademark celebration.

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Promotion-chasers left shattered by never-say-die Latics
IF a guide book exists on how to win football matches, it will surely have to be pulped now.

Athletic’s route to three stunning points at Bramall Lane contained more twists and turns than the Snake Pass. Right up to the hour mark, their chances were every bit as remote as its darkest outpost.

Teams like Athletic don’t win games when 2-0 down at Sheffield United. They lose them. The only debate is the magnitude of defeat.

And when up against a £3million striker like 22-goal Ched Evans - so sharp he could slice a diamond in two - it is only natural to fear for a reprisal of the five-goal MK Dons catastrophe.

But something strange happened on Saturday afternoon. On the day when Britain pointed to the skies at a meteor, Athletic blazed their own awe-inspiring trail, every bit as unexpected.

In the space of less than four second-half minutes, the ideas of what is and isn’t possible in npower League One were undermined.

Was luck involved? Perhaps. The goal which sparked the comeback came from the head of the Blades’ own striker Richard Cresswell.

Only the striker himself will know what he was trying to do when he slammed a diving header beyond his own goalkeeper Steve Simonsen after 65 minutes.

Were Athletic also the beneficiaries of the home side’s foolishness? Definitely.

Matthew Lowton, booked for horseplay with Chris Taylor after Athletic’s first goal, left his brain behind in his own penalty area when losing possession and wildly lunging at James Tarkowski.

It would be churlish, though, to point to too many factors outside of a never-say-die attitude and an encouraging, enterprising approach towards attacking play.

This was exemplified by the game-leveller from Kieran Lee. Taking a pass from Keanu Marsh-Brown – introduced to great effect at half-time and proving again that his football skills far outweigh his diplomatic abilities when using social media – the overlapping right-back shaped a wonderful left-footed shot beyond Simonsen after 69 minutes.

The majority of the 17,267 crowd were stunned into silence. The band of travelling supporters, who saw the comeback unfold right in front of them, made up for it with a cacophony of energetic noise of their own as Lee leapt to the air, grabbed onto by team-mates.

It was nothing, of course, compared to the celebrations which greeted the match-winner.

A man up thanks to Lowton’s red card and in control of events, inspired Athletic poured forward in search of a winning goal.

Reuben Reid sneaked in behind centre-back Harry Maguire and as he prepared his feet to shoot, was tugged down inside the penalty area. Maguire was given his marching orders and Kuqi took to the skies to perform his feted belly-flop after converting the resultant penalty, two minutes into added time.

Marsh-Brown almost gained Athletic a fourth goal when his angled drive rattled a post. By that stage, the Blades had four strikers – Evans, Cresswell, Will Hoskins and James Beattie – on the field among their nine men.

Athletic began the game stoutly, with new man Reece Brown forming a defensive barrier in a five-strong midfield. A pair of defensive howlers handed Danny Wilson’s men the initiative.

First, Jean-Yves Mvoto tried to shield behind an innocuous ball down Athletic’s left flank. Evans ran around the defender, retrieved possession just in front of the byline and cut a ball back for Lowton to sweep home.

At the other end, Brown’s cross was charged down by Lee Williamson – Dickov felt it was with his arm, quite possibly inside his own box – before Tom Adeyemi had the visitors’ best chance of the opening period.

Charging down a Lescinel Jean-Francois clearance, the midfielder homed in on goal and hit a shot with the outside of his right foot which Simonsen did well to get a firm wrist on to divert wide.

Jean-Francois was then carried off on a stretcher after injuring himself in a collision with Kuqi, weakening a Blades defence already short on numbers.

United were effective going forward and doubled their lead after 38 minutes. Tarkowski lost possession, Evans took control and drove into the area before firing a low drive across Alex Cisak.

With Marsh-Brown on the field, Athletic rose to the challenge in the second half.

It was almost 3-0 when Blades captain Michael Doyle shaped a left-footed shot from the edge of the area which hit a post.

Chris Taylor’s centre was well cleared under his own crossbar by Andy Taylor and the same player nodded clear from Kuqi at the far post after Cisak had beaten out another shot by Evans.

After all hell broke loose and Athletic equalised, Evans’ superb turn was not matched by the accuracy of a shot which was caught by Cisak.

Chris Taylor’s cross which skimmed the crossbar on its way out was one of the few poor deliveries from a player pushed into a second-half strike partnership with Kuqi.

Scenting blood, Dickov pushed on Reid and his contribution was brief yet very telling in winning the vital penalty at the end of an unconventional, thrilling clash.