Sheffield United must replicate Luton Town spirit at Wolves after Chris Wilder challenge post-Brighton

Chris Wilder has warned his Sheffield United side that they cannot afford to dwell on the pain of Saturday's heavy home defeat to Brighton, as they look to bounce back again at Wolves this weekend. The 5-0 loss was the third Bramall Lane game in succession in which United have shipped five goals as their defensive struggle continued.

The first of that unwanted sequence was also against Brighton, in the FA Cup, but the second, to Aston Villa, led to a much-needed show of character and spirit to win away at Luton Town and breathe some optimism into their unlikely survival bid. United now have to go to the well again ahead of Sunday's trip to Wolves, who were billed as potential relegation rivals at the start of the season but are now firmly mid-table.

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"From a psychological point of view, yet again, there’s no time to dwell," Wilder said. "We have to pick the bones out of it. The goals, there were some unfortunate goals from our point of view, where we have to do so much better. Allowing forwards to get balls across the box, there's a deflected goal and an own goal in there as well. These are things that obviously aren’t going for us at the minute.

"As always you get tested and you get judged in these moments we have to show up. We have to dust ourselves down, and all the things that people will talk about in professional football. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. It's no time to point fingers; let’s go on. We've shown our character in terms of the reaction from the Villa game to the Luton Town game and how difficult it was."

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United remained rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table but after Burnley's own 5-0 hammering on home turf, to Arsenal on Saturday, they could have climbed a place in the table if they avoided defeat against Roberto De Zerbi's Seagulls. "Of course it was an opportunity today to get off the bottom, which we desperately wanted to do, but we haven't," Wilder added.

"So we have to have another good week in training and hopefully we can go to Wolves and get a result. It’s tough. It's tough for the players, it’s tough for everybody involved. It’s tough to be a Sheffield United supporter at the moment, I totally get that. But we have to rally, we have to stick together and all the things that people talk about, to show what you’re about. As a human being, as a person and most importantly, as a professional footballer."