Sheffield United boss fires warning as his side prepare for "tough" Stoke City test

After Troy Deeney was given the freedom of Bramall Lane to equalise for Birmingham City at the weekend, QPR took advantage of some slack marking as Chris Willock fired home the winner in midweek to sentence United to a rare home defeat.

Heckingbottom's men therefore travel to Stoke this weekend looking for their first win since before the international break, having seen Norwich City close the gap at the top and go level on points.

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And the manager said: "I'd take how we played the other night [against QPR] in every game this season and we'd be fine.

"Every away game has been different so far so I'm not looking at the last two [home games], I'm looking at Preston and Hull and Swansea and Boro.

"It's generally tougher away; teams don't sit in and slow the game down. They try to hurt us and it's a different dynamic.

"We have to be better defensively. We're going to be tested and have to deal with their threats.

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"This'll be a tougher game than Tuesday night. Just in different ways."

Stoke drew 1-1 with promotion contenders Burnley on Tuesday evening, days after being hammered 4-0 by Watford on their home patch on Sunday.

"I've seen their last couple of games, they've been different," Heckingbottom added.

"[Against Burnley'] it was tighter and Stoke were a threat on the counter. Which served them well."

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