Sheffield United 4-1 Cardiff City: Second-placed Blades heap pressure on Bluebirds

Sheffield United boosted their hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League with a 4-1 win over relegation-threatened Cardiff City.

Jack Robinson’s second-half diving header was followed by goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Ciaran Clark to give the Blades a resounding win.

The defeat keeps the Bluebirds just one point above the bottom three.

United are eight points clear of third-placed Middlesbrough with the day’s later games still to come.

The side at the top end of the table started the stronger of the two, piling the pressure on Cardiff’s defence in the opening 10 minutes without any clear chances on goal.

The Bluebirds then had a good spell of their own, winning a flurry of corners. Ryan Wintle’s long-range strike was saved well by Wales international goalkeeper Adam Davies, who started in place of the suspended Wes Foderingham.

Max Lowe’s boot was high as he attempted to clear another corner ahead of Cardiff defender Jack Simpson and referee David Webb pointed to the penalty spot.

Cardiff had missed all three penalty attempts so far this season, but Kaba stroked the ball down the middle of Davies’ goal to give the visitors the lead.

After a further good spell from Cardiff, the Blades levelled five minutes later through Manchester City loanee McAtee.

The 20-year-old dropped a shoulder to dupe defender Mark McGuinness, dancing his way into the 18-yard box before passing the ball beyond Ryan Allsop and into the net.

Cardiff could have been ahead at the break as captain Joe Ralls went through on goal after a defensive mix-up, but Davies made himself big to keep the scores level.

In the second half, former Cardiff loanee Tommy Doyle’s dangerous cross was allowed to bounce inside the six-yard box and was met by the diving head of Robinson, who charged in behind the stationary Cardiff defence to give the hosts the lead.

Substitute Connor Wickham rattled the crossbar with a close-range strike on 73 minutes as Cardiff chased an equaliser.

But Ndiaye pounced on a weak back-pass by McGuinness to skip around Allsop and tuck in his 14th goal of the season.

Republic of Ireland international Clark then sealed the points with a tap-in after Cardiff failed to clear a corner.

Cardiff have won just one of their last six league games, and were looking to win successive games on the road for the first time since April 2022.

Instead they have now lost on consecutive league visits to Bramall Lane for the first time since 2004 and sit precariously above the relegation zone.

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom said:

“We’ve come from behind and managed to score four and win 4-1 which says a lot about the character of the players.

“I felt they got the penalty when we were on top. We got back in it with a fantastic goal, but you want that second goal as soon as possible so to come back out in the second half and take the lead in that fashion puts you in a real strong position.

“We knew Cardiff were going to throw everything at us. They’re fighting for their lives, but that opened up a little space for us at the other end.”

Cardiff City boss Sabri Lamouchi told BBC Radio Wales:

“I’m really disappointed with the result, not with the performance which was very good in the first half. We probably deserved to score one more.

“We lost against Sunderland with a different performance, if we play the next five games like that we will stay in the Championship for sure.

“We were sometimes unlucky, but I like the attitude of the players. They fought and played well and it’s not easy to come here and do that.”