Wes Foderingham discusses standout Man City display as brave Sheffield United fall just short

Wes Foderingham was left to reflect on a bittersweet afternoon against Manchester City’s treble-winning superstars as Sheffield United fell just short of securing a morale-boosting first point of the season at Bramall Lane. Foderingham made a number of fine saves to keep City at bay, before Rodri’s winner two minutes from time.

The United goalkeeper enjoyed a personal battle with City striker Erling Haaland, who missed a first-half penalty before being denied in the second by a fine Foderingham save in a one-on-one situation as the Norwegian looked to dink the ball home. Foderingham also excelled to keep World Cup winner Julian Alvarez at bay before half-time before Jack Grealish and Haaland combined for City’s opener.

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United looked to have snatched a point when Jayden Bogle came off the bench to equalise, before poor defending and misfortune saw Kyle Walker’s cross land in the path of Rodri and his shot arrowed into the top corner of Foderingham’s net to send the City fans behind that goal delirious. Speaking after the game, Foderingham said: “When Haaland went through one-on-one, I saw the dink quite and fortunately was able to get the hand up quickly.

“So it was a decent save, but ultimately I’ve picked the ball out of the net twice. When he has that much time you want to try and delay as much as you can but try and enforce yourself on him. I cut off the low shot and he tried the high one. And I managed to stick my hand up and stop it.”

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Earlier Haaland’s penalty, awarded after John Egan handled Alvarez’s cross, rebounded off Foderingham’s left-hand post and it wasn’t until after the hour mark that the world’s best striker - who scored 61 times for club and country last season - finally found a way past the United goalkeeper. “It was brilliant,” Foderingham admitted when asked to describe the emotions of the penalty.

“Penalties are usually a free hit, you have the chance to be a hero. I had a look at his record before the game and he’s top class, he put them left and right and down the middle, he’s put them high and he’s put them low. I had no idea where he was going to go, I just had to try and stay in the moment and delay and hopefully make the save. Fortunately for us it hit the post but in the end, he got the goal.”

United may have left Bramall Lane with no points but can take a lot of pride from their display against a side of such calibre, ahead of a home clash this weekend against relegation rivals Everton that, even at this early stage of the season, looks mammoth. “We had a lot of focus before the game,” Foderingham added. “We defended really well for the majority of the game but ultimately, when you’re playing against players at that level, eventually they’ll get a chance.”