Yesterday evening Sheffield United were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Championship side Hull City on penalties, following a 1-1 draw in regular time.
The first half saw Hull take the lead in the 18th minute through a quick counter-attacking move, finished off by midfielder Jon Toral. Sheffield United equalised in the second half through Billy Sharp, who finished with an impressive attacking move by volleying the ball home.
Despite the Blades ending the fixture with an impressive 18 shots on goal and 58% of the possession, they were unable to find a late winner.
Hull City have had reasonable success in this competition in recent years, reaching the quarter-final in 2015/16, as well as the semi-final in the 2016/17 season, and thanks to a missed penalty from new boy Oliver Norwood for Sheffield United, Hull, once again progress to the next round.
Reactions
Despite the missed kick, Norwood was voted fans man of the match, proving that the midfielder is an ideal addition for the squad this season, with the manager Chris Wilder emphasising how impressive his debut was (The Star).
As expected, the fans weren’t best pleased with Sheffield United unable to progress to the second round of the competition for the first time in four years. However, with an impressive goal from Sharp and a man of the match performance from Norwood, there are positives to take.
Many Sheffield United fans took to Twitter to express their frustrations with the result:
Got to be lessons learned tonight a change in system is what I feel we need got to start keeping clean sheets we are to easy to score against… and also think every blade will agree we desperately needs a STRIKER if not two cause for me Leon is done thoughts?? #twitterblades
— shane rowley (@srowley88) August 14, 2018
Wilder PLEASE STOP playing clarke and GIVING him the captaincy! Sharp needs to start with mcgoldrick Saturday, we need a new striker to play with sharp, sharps a poacher end of. #twitterblades
— Callum Cutler (@calcutler) August 14, 2018
However, many fans also took to Twitter to take positives from the game:
Norwood missing his pen to knock us out of cup ensuring we can concentrate on the league #twitterblades pic.twitter.com/ZGcSx5Mgn3
— Katie Stones (@xxwhatkatiedid) August 15, 2018
What a joy it was to watch Norwood play tonight. Wow. 🔥🔥 🔴⚔️⚪️ #twitterblades #sufc
— Adam Wilcock (@adamsw_11) August 14, 2018
Penalty aside, Norwood looks a player. Him and Fleck together 👀 Old Bill showing class is permanent with that finish as well 🔥 #sufc #twitterblades
— Ross George (@designedbyross) August 14, 2018
