The Sheffield United cutting edge that is Billy Sharp delivered two more goals for the cause on a night when the Championship summit beckoned for the second time this season.
Partner-in-crime Leon Clarke added a late third goal as the fans chanted: ‘We’re top of the League’. The stay may be a short one but the supporters don’t care after seeing their team leapfrog Wolves into pole position.
Sharp’s first half penalty followed by a breakaway in response to a shock strike from Burton’s Matty Palmer took Sharp’s total for the season to eight.
Sheffield United’s players celebrate after Billy Sharp scores his second goal of the evening
Sharp had earlier put the Blades ahead from the penalty spot after 10 minutes of play
The Blades captain celebrates after sending his side back to the top of the Championship
However, the match was overshadowed by a bad injury to Paul Coutts, who was rushed to hospital with a suspected broken leg right at the end of the first half.
It was also a lousy night for Burton, whose players pledged £10 for every goal conceded and £5 for every goal scored with all the proceeds going to BBC’s Children in Need.
Considering Albion’s home defensive record this season it was a brave act, especially against high-flying Sheffield United. Money guaranteed as it happened.
Four successive home defeats, 14 goals leaked, it would be fair to say the Pirelli has not been a happy hunting ground for its residents this season. As if to prove it, Sheffield took just ten minutes before getting on the scoresheet having looked focussed and purposeful from kick off.
John Fleck threaded a ball through a forest of legs to Sharp, a wily old campaigner who drew the charge from Kyle McFadzean. Referee Oliver Langford did not hesitate and Sharp stepped up to slot the penalty past Stephen Bywater for his seventh goal of the season.
It set the trend as the Yorkshiremen controlled possession and effectively isolated Burton’s strikeforce of Marvin Sordell and Lloyd Dyer (two goals each this season). To add to the woe, Dyer only lasted half an hour before he was substituted having received treatment.
Sheffield had chances to extend their lead, Jack O’Connell’s header from a Paul Coutts corner chalked off for a foul on Bywater. Then Mark Duffy’s goalbound effort struck Jake Buxton and skewed away for a corner with brief appeals for another penalty dismissed.
Burton’s Matt Palmer got his side level when he scored after 31 minutes in the first half
Duffy was an integral part of the Burton team in the 2015-16 promotion campaign and is proving to be just as useful to the Blades. He is not the only one to have taken to the Championship.
Manager Chris Wilder’s minimal tinkering has proved hugely successful so far but if there were any signs of complacency they would have been wiped away by Burton’s equaliser.
Matty Palmer, out on the left, curled the ball into the top corner completely out of the blue and suddenly it was level pegging again. Tails up, Sordell tested fit-again Jamal Blackman and the home crowd rediscovered their voices just in time to watch Sheffield break away and Sharp grab his second of the night.
Sheffield United’s Paul Coutts came off the pitch seconds before the end of the first half
Burton are in a relegation battle and that’s what happens when you are in 21st position, one clear of the drop zone and have only amassed 13 points this season.
How Burton boss Nigel Clough would have wanted to get one over on a club he managed for two years, taking them to the semi-finals of the FA and League Cup as well as the play-offs.
Sheffield had other plans although the first half faded somewhat as injuries took over. Leon Clarke hit the post with a curling shot and then was involved in a tussle with Stephen Warnock.
Leon Clarke added a third for Sheffield United 11 minutes before the end of the game
The Burton defender lay motionless for several minutes and when he did recover he was booked for his troubles. Warnock also had a let-off in the second half when his hand connected with the ball but no penalty was given.
The second emergency time out looked far more serious as Coutts crashed to the ground. Both sets of players urgently called for medical attention. Coutts was carried off on a stretcher with a suspected broken leg and the first half was elongated by many minutes. United had plenty of chances to score again and finally did so near the end when Clarke finished off Fleck’s pass.