Sheffield United boss delivers his verdict on Alex Neil's Sunderland and their 'brave' approach

The Blades eventually moved into the play-off places with a 2-1 win, but the game swung significantly when Dan Neil was shown a red card for a professional foul half an hour in.

Heckingbottom said the red was a reward for his side's high press, with Neil forced into the challenge when robbed of possession near his own box by James McAtee.

He felt his side were much improved in the second half, though Lynden Gooch's goal made for an at times nervy conclusion for him on the sideline.

"I thought in the first half we weren't [at our best], a bit down to us, we weren't as composed on the ball as we wanted to be and credit to Sunderland - they stepped onto us and took risks, fair play to them," he said.

"Some do that to us here but a lot don't.

"I thought we settled down a bit as the game went on.

"The problem was, we did have a spare midfielder most of the time - Macca [James McAtee] or Sander [Berge] generally but we weren't finding them. Then when we did find him towards the end [of the half] he was turning back and giving Sunderland that chance to press.

"They just didn't give [Berge] the time. You have to give big credit to what they did. If we'd got the ball to Macca earlier and they jumped, we were through.

"We needed to be better second half and we were. The problem is when you give a goal away like that it just changes the dynamic.

"I know when I watch it back I'll see no chances against but it didn't feel like that when I was on the side and there's just a goal in it.

"At the start of the second half we showed a lot more composure on the ball and before you know it you've got bodies up the pitch and you can start to score goals like that.

"We've had good spells and good patches of play but we haven't played like that as often as we would have liked this season."

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