Leeds United felt hard done by that Sheffield United did not receive at least one red card during Saturday’s clash.
Chris Wilder told Sky Sports’ post-match coverage of Leeds’ win over Sheffield United (01/12 from 12:00) that the referee made some strange decisions during the contest, and seemed to criticise some of the Whites players for their reactions to some challenges.
In a fascinating derby at Bramall Lane, it was a late goal from Pablo Hernandez that settled the game thanks to Dean Henderson’s error. The contest may have included only one goal, but there were certainly plenty of incidents.
Leeds felt aggrieved that the Blades were not handed at least one red card during the first-half. David McGoldrick got away with a nasty challenge on Mateusz Klich, and some of the Whites squad felt that Enda Stevens could have picked up a second yellow card before the interval for a trip.
Wilder felt that both sides suffered due to some questionable decisions from the officials, but also seemed to be unhappy with how Leeds expressed their frustration at certain calls.
“It’s not our style, we wanted to make contact with the opposition and they’ve got to be able to handle it, just as much as Phillips or Jansson or Cooper jump into our players and tackle our players.”
In fairness to Leeds, McGoldrick could have had few complaints if Oliver Langford produced a red card. He was unquestionably fortunate to not even see yellow for the challenge – that also did not lead to a free-kick either.
Leeds did benefit from some decisions. And it is impossible to know how the game would have played out had McGoldrick been dismissed – it may have worked in the home side’s favour. But given that Klich appeared fortunate to emerge from the collision without injury, it is little surprise that the Whites had a problem with the challenge and that anger carried over to some of the subsequent decisions made by the official.
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