Skip to content

Battling United please Clough

Image: Nigel Clough: Hails Sheffield United fighting spirit

Sheffield United boss Nigel Clough praised his team's fighting spirit after they earned a 2-2 draw at Oldham.

Clough's side extended their unbeaten away run to eight matches and remain firmly on course to reach the League One play-offs. Oldham led 2-0 at half-time thanks to Dominic Poleon, who broke the deadlock after 22 minutes with a strong run and a clinical finish into the bottom corner of the net. Poleon doubled the Latics' lead two minutes before the break as he slammed a spectacular drive past goalkeeper Mark Howard from 35 yards. He almost completed his hat-trick before United's comeback started in the 56th minute when Jason Holt steered in his shot from close range. The Blades' 73rd-minute leveller sparked anger in the Oldham ranks as referee Richard Clark over-ruled his assistant to award a corner instead of a goal-kick. Following a goalmouth scramble, Jamie Murphy forced the ball into the net. United went close to snatching all three points, with Michael Doyle's effort hitting a post. But Clough said: "I'm very pleased with our performance because this is a good away point. "Apart from the first 10 minutes we played very well, but the problem was we made too many mistakes at the back. "There was a mistake for Oldham's first goal and then Mark Howard got caught by surprise with the second. That doesn't happen very often, but you would expect him to save it. "We shouldn't have been 2-0 down, but I'm delighted with the way we fought back. That's always pleasing away from home. "Both sides like to pass the ball around and the conditions made that very difficult, but we ground it out and could have won. "Our aim is to get into the play-offs and we have moved a step closer to achieving that." Oldham manager Dean Holden felt Poleon's double strike was just reward for his hard-working performance. He said: "Both goals were very good, but the second was fantastic. Dominic was unplayable in the first half. "I've been really pleased with him since I became manager because he runs, he creates chances and he's an honest lad. "He has given me everything and I'm just disappointed he didn't get a hat-trick because he deserved one. "As a team we could have been out of sight before Sheffield United scored, but once they got a goal the pressure mounted. "The lads are saying it feels like a defeat, but you have to look at the whole picture and the quality of team we were up against. "We got very close to taking the game away from them, but it's about fine margins. "It was a strange decision from the referee to give a corner before their second goal. Anyone could see it should have been a goal-kick, but I'm not making too much of it. "Officials have to make hundreds of decisions in every game and the fact is we should have defended the set-piece better."

Around Sky