"Terrible, soft" - Sheffield United boss's verdict on home defeat to Rotherham United as big chance goes begging

The Blades failed to build on the momentum of their 5-2 victory over league leaders Burnley at Bramall Lane on Saturday and were brought crashing back down to earth by the Millers, who made the short trip back over the border with three points thanks to skipper Ben Wiles' first-half winner.

United never really got going in a performance that their manager conceded was "jaded" and when asked if the result summed up the challenges of the Championship, he acknowledged: "We speak about it all the time, that's it right there. What we want to be able to do is overcome that and be the team who's not having as many dips.

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"We could still have won that game, of course, but we haven't. I'm not saying we deserved to win, the stats may say we did but we didn't play with the same pace and energy we do.

"I thought Ollie [Norwood] was brave and kept getting on the ball and making us play but we weren't at our best as a group."

United paid the price for another defensive mistake, Jack Robinson failing to clear the danger before Cheo Ogbene set up Wiles to finish.

"The goal is terrible from our point of view, a real soft one," Heckingbottom added. "We didn't hurt them enough or open them up often enough."

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