Sheffield United have had some unexpected success of late.
Leon Clarke was Sheffield United’s unexpected hero this week.
Two goals against his former club at Hillsborough on Sunday helped United win the Steel City derby, and were backed up in midweek by another two – again against a previous employer – to send the Blades into the automatic places.
Clarke hadn’t scored a Championship goal in more than two years before then, and appeared to have thrown his Bramall Lane future into doubt by seeing red in August’s win against Barnsley.
Later that month, United brought in Clayton Donaldson from Birmingham City, while a Bleacher Report documentary revealed how Blades boss Chris Wilder tried to add Jerome Sinclair from Watford as well.
Had that happened, or had either Donaldson or Billy Sharp passed fit, it’s hard to see a way in which Clarke would have been given the opportunities he has done of late.
He’s arguably United’s first choice striker now, though – especially after they struggled without him for much of Saturday’s defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Some things do, it seems, happen for a reason.
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