May 2013

Yeovil Town 2 Sheffield United 0 ( Attendance: 8,152)

Blades Line-up : Long, Westlake (Higginbotham 55), Hill, Maguire, Collins, Doyle, McDonald, McFadzean (Flynn 87) , Murphy, Porter, Ironside (Kitson 64).

Unused: Coyne, Chapell, Barry, Whitehouse.

Man Of The Match: Callum McFadzean.

Yeovil: Stech, Ayling, McAllister, Webster, Upton, Hayter (Hinds 90), Foley, Madden, Burn, Edwards, Dawson.

Unused : Stewart, Blizzard, Williams, Maksimenko, Young, Balanta.

Referee: Phil Gibbs (West Midlands).

Yeovil beat Sheffield United 2-0 at Huish Park to seal a 2-1 aggregate win and a place in the League One play-off final.

The Glovers struck a dramatic late winner to move a step closer to their first promotion to the second tier of English football.

Ed Upson nodded home with just five minutes remaining to complete the turnaround and sentence the Blades to a third successive season in League One.

Gary Johnson's men took just six minutes to wipe out the Blades' 1-0 first-leg lead when Upson's top-draw through ball teed up Kevin Dawson.

At the other end Jamie Murphy came within a lick of point of an equaliser. Callum McFadzean drifted through a posse of green shirts before teeing up the winger who cut inside before bending in a curling effort that thundered off the crossbar.

Jamie McAllister, a play-off finalist with Bristol City under Johnson's tutelage back in 2007, saw his drilled effort from a free-kick routine deflected wide after Harry Maguire had hauled back Paddy Madden.

Chris Porter, United's hero at this stage of last season's play-offs, fired into the side netting with the first chance of the second half after Dan Burn had done superbly to block his first effort.

Five minutes later Madden missed a gilt-edged chance from close range with the goal gaping after being found by Luke Ayling's delivery.

Maguire's free header with 20 minutes remaining landed well wide as the Blades searched for just their second goal in five games and a return to Wembley for the second successive season.

Yeovil have been late goal specialists this campaign with 20 scored in the final 15 minutes of games, but with time running out Hayter nodded wide when he rose to meet Foley's left-wing cross.

Midfielder Upson may have only scored one goal from inside the box for the club but he showed Hayter how it is done with just six minutes remaining. The former Ipswich man met Madden's inviting right-wing cross with a lovely glancing header which dropped into the bottom corner to send the Yeovil faithful wild.

With a minute remaining Foley's snapshot was just the wrong side of the post and the home side saw out the final minutes to extend United's play-off hoodoo to seven attempts and condemn them to another season in the third tier of English football.

So where did it all go wrong this season, well it is easy to be wise after the events but, United's inability to score goals regularly, resulted in too many drawn matches, and the shock decision to sack Danny Wilson added to the failure.

Blades Player Performance Ratings v. Yeovil: Long 7 , Westlake 6 , Higginbotham 6 , Hill 5 , Maguire 6 , Collins 6 , Doyle 6 , McDonald 6 , McFadzean 7 , Murphy 7 , Porter 7 , Ironside 6 , Kitson 6 .

Sheffield United 1 Yeovil Town 0 ( Attendance: 15,262)

Blades Line-up : Long, Westlake, Hill, Maguire, Collins, Doyle, McDonald, Robson (McFadzean 31), Porter (Whitehouse 90), Kitson Booked (Ironside 74), Murphy.

Unused: Coyne, Higginbotham, Barry, Chapell.

Man Of The Match: Chris Porter.

Yeovil: Stech, Ayling, McAllister, Webster, Upson, Hayter (Balanta 73), Foley, Madden, Burn, Edwards, Dawson.

Unused : Stewart, Hinds, Blizzard, Williams, Maksimenko, Young.

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).

Callum McFadzean's goal means Sheffield United will take a one-goal lead into the second leg of their League One play-off semi-final against Yeovil.

The Blades felt they should have had a penalty when Barry Robson seemed to be elbowed by Jamie McAllister.

However, United went ahead just after the break when McFadzean's shot from 12 yards went in after a deflection. United goalkeeper George Long produced an excellent reaction save to deny Byron Webster an acrobatic last-minute leveller.

The Blades had failed to score in their previous three matches leading up to this encounter but went close when the returning Robson flashed a free-kick just past the post. That was as close as either side got in a first-half that was high in effort and energy but lacking in real clear-cut chances, while Robson went off injured and was replaced by McFadzean.

Given the frenetic nature of the first-half it was something of a surprise that the deadline was broke within seconds of the restart. Chris Porter got in behind the Glovers defence to lay-off for Jamie Murphy whose cutback into the area came to McFadzean and his shot beat goalkeeper Marek Stech via a deflection that went in off the post.

Yeovil, who had relied on counter attacks started by Stech before the break, responded well and James Hayter chipped in from a marginally offside position. McFadzean came close to doubling the advantage for Chris Morgan's side after a clever run from the wing culminated in him firing straight at Stech before Murphy went close after drifting inside from the opposite side.

For the visitors, Paddy Madden was finding it hard to escape the attentions of Blades centre backs Harry Maguire and Neill Collins and on the one significant occasion he did, the latter was there to clear his header off the line. Long was forced into late action from Webster's close-range overhead kick but the Blades held out.

Blades Player Performance Ratings v. Yeovil: Long 7 , Westlake 6 , Hill 6 , Maguire 7 , Collins 8 , Doyle 7 , McDonald 6 , Robson 6 , McFadzean 7 , Porter 8 , Kitson 7 , Ironside 7 , Murphy 7 .