Wilder watches United put 'pride' in the shirt as Brewster settles derby

The Steel City derby has not exactly been renowned for goals in recent times: the past five meetings of Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United have yielded just two but, goodness, when they are scored they are mightily significant.

- Aaron Bower

It has been quite some time since these fiercest of rivals have been pushing simultaneously for promotion from the same division. But at the end here there was the distinct feeling that one side's quest for a return to the Premier League had taken a potentially fatal hit, while the other's continued to accelerate.

Like this derby of late, Rhian Brewster has not been associated with prolific goal-scoring since his £23.5m move to the Blades from Liverpool in 2020.

His second-half strike here was only his eighth in 109 appearances for the club, and just his third this season.

But not only does it reaffirm United as the city's dominant team, it also lifts Chris Wilder's side back into the Championship's automatic promotion places and level on points with the leaders, Leeds United, who drew on Saturday. The top three are now split by just two points with Burnley's win at Swansea, and it is now clear that every moment will matter over the final six weeks.