4 Travers – Made some good saves but at fault for the first and third goals.
5 Ayling – Struggled with Hamer early on. Used his experience for 20 minutes at start of second half but never looked comfortable.
7 van den Berg – Made two brilliant blocks. If only his fellow defender reached his levels.
5 Edmundson – Won the penalty and defended well in the first half but regressed in the second and sloppy pass led to momentum swing.
3 Giles – Involved in the mix-up that led to the first goal, caught out for the second and made mistake that almost led to another goal. More questions about his defending.
5 Hackney – Good on the ball but overpowered in the midfield out of possession. Couldn’t get a grip and the home players ran through him on too many occasions.
5 Morris – Didn’t reach his usual standards. Boro’s midfield was given the runaround in the first half
3 Iling-Junior – Poor full debut. The winger was completely off the pace in the first half especially and his bad pass led to the home side’s opening goal.
3 Azaz – The forward’s bad run of form continued. Ineffective throughout, too ponderous in possession and replaced 10 minutes into the second half.
7 Burgzorg – Boro’s best player again. A willing runner throughout, scored his penalty and tried to force another leveller after second goal.
6 Iheanacho – Tough task with little service or support but worked hard and held the ball up well.
Substitutes:
5 Barlaser (for Azaz, 55): Was introduced to try and help Boro get on top in midfield battle but it didn’t work.
Conway (for Iheanacho, 71): N/A
Whittaker (for Iling-Junior, 71): N/A
Forss (for Morris, 89): N/A
Subs not used: Glover, Fry, Borges, Dede, McCabe
SHEFFIELD UNITED: Cooper 6, Clarke 7, Ahmedhodzic 7, Robinson 7, Burrows (Davies, 90) Souza 8, Peck 8 (Choudhury, 90), Rak-Sakyi 7 (Brereton-Diaz, 67), O’Hare 7, Hamer 8 (McCallum, 82), Cannon 6 (Campbell, 46)
SUBS NOT USED: Faxon, Holding, Brewster, Brooks.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Hamer. Tormented Boro again, as he did previously for Coventry.
