Sheffield United recorded their third victory in a week against Norwich City at a murky Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon with a result that will go a long way to ensuring that the Blades will now not become embroiled in a relegation battle this season. The three points were of course invaluable but it was the manner of the performance, which was the most consistent for several months that will have left the home fans leaving with wide smiles upon their faces. United had arguably been a little fortunate to garner six points from their last two games but had shown a determination and resolve to pick up the crucial victories. There can be no doubt that United fully deserved the win with an assured and mostly dominant display. In truth, United should have been well in front by half time but had to be patient before they finally got in front with Billy Sharp proving the old adage that like buses, you wait ages for one, then two come at once. A solid header from Matt Kilgallon doubled the advantage and United strolled to a comfortable triumph against a lacklustre Norwich side.

United made one change from Saturday with Rob Hulse starting in place of the injured James Beattie, whilst Norwich made three changes from their defeat at home to Stoke, leaving experienced campaigners like Dublin and Doherty on the bench, as Glenn Roeder tipped his hat to youth. The game began with United kicking towards the Kop, as they had on Tuesday, and were able to exert instant pressure on the City goal. A sliced clearance from Marshall was followed by hesitant defending from those in front of him, as United made the early running. The Blades soon forced a number of corners and Kilgallon fired over from one such set play when well placed. United then had a great effort to take the lead when Naysmith's dangerous cross was headed across goal by Hulse but Sharp miskicked in front of the gaping goal. United continued to press and Cotterill's wing play was proving to be a focus of many of the attacks. The loanee delivered an inviting cross onto the head of Hulse but he could not get any purchase to beat Marshall. Norwich had barely threatened but a direct run from Norwich's own on loan winger, Gibbs, saw the Arsenal man's shot curl narrowly wide hitting the stanchion behind the goal with Kenny motionless.

United were soon back on the attack and Hulse was proving to be a real threat with his hold up play and strong running in a performance that was more akin to those he delivered consistently in the Premiership last season. His physical presence alone saw Norwich concede a number of free kicks in quick succession as United sought to take advantage of their domination. Morgan fired over in an effort reminiscent of the one Kilgallon had missed earlier in proceedings. Shackell was finally booked when he upended Sharp after a series of fouls on Sharp's striker partner, Hulse, had been ignored. United's best effort on goal came on 35 minutes, when Hulse strode away from his man confidently and hit a curling left foot effort that beat Marshall all the way but his the base of the keeper's left hand post before bouncing away to safety. Indeed, the clearance led to an immediate, but rare breakaway for the visitors and Huckerby's shot was not far wide of Kenny's near post. The combination that had worked so well for United almost threatened to work once again on the stroke of half time as Cotterill found half a yard once again and sent a dangerous cross into the box but the ball was just a touch too high for Hulse who headed over the bar. The half time whistle drew warm applause from all over the ground that had to be pleased with the efforts of the home team.

The second half began with United continuing to take the game to Norwich with Sharp involved in many of the Blades forages into the Canaries territory. His turn and shot saw the ball drift wide of the post but it was not long before he was celebrating his second goal in a week as united finally and deservedly took the lead. Bertrand's errant throw was picked up by Cotterill whose driven cross was half cleared by Pearce into the path of SHARP who reacted very quickly to drive the ball expertly into the corner of the net. It was not long after the opener that United were able to double their lead and give the score line a more realistic feel. Hulse won a corner after more good work and from Carney's left footed delivery, the keeper remained on his line and KILGALLON headed a firm effort high into the net. The celebrations involved the entire United outfield players showing the relief in a goal that would go a long way to securing United's Championship status.

Not long after Gibbs ridiculous dive was rightly rewarded by referee, Oliver, with a yellow card. It was not long after before former Man City man Lee Croft replaced Gibbs. Glenn Roeder made another change when he spared centre back Shackell any more embarrassment after his torrid afternoon replacing him with Gary Doherty. Hulse's strong performance continued though and his powerful run and pass set up Cotterill whose curling effort was only inches wide. Norwich had a genuine attempt on goal themselves when they attacked down United's left and the pull back saw Cureton shoot low towards the bottom left hand corner but Kenny got down well to turn the ball away. Soon after he reacted well to parry Evans effort and then knock away the ball to prevent any rebound opportunity.

Both teams replaced strikers 10 minutes from the end but both could have had more differing afternoons. The disappointing Evans trooped off to be replaced by the veteran Dublin, who would have been surprised not to have been utilised earlier with Morgan and Kilgallon dominating their opponents for the entire afternoon. United's change saw Hulse, who had been clattered by Doherty, have to leave proceedings after receiving treatment. The front man was given a rapturous ovation for his efforts in a true man of the match performance, as he departed for the incoming Jon Stead. United still looked as likely to add to the score and Stead showed some nice touches to link with Cotterill and Sharp. Norwich's final effort came right on 90 minutes as from a corner the ball was not properly cleared but Pearce hit his own teammate Cureton who was lying in a prostrate position. United's last chance saw Kilgallon strike for goal from a free kick but the referee waved away United's appeals for handball and soon after blew his final whistle after playing the allotted three minutes of stoppage time.

United

A much-improved performance with not one player having a particularly poor game. The team began the game well and it continued for the entire 90 minutes. They had a front pairing that caused a whole manner of problems for the Norwich back line and a midfield that won most of the battles. The wide men worked hard and looked a threat going forward and the defence nullified any kind of threat Norwich posed with their chances kept to a minimal. United should have been a couple of goals ahead by half time but were unfortunate and a little wasteful with the chances they did not convert. It was positive that United kept going though and maintained the same level of performance and finally got their reward. When the second went in not long after, the game was up for the visitors. United saw things out in a professional manner and could have won by even more goals with Norwich only having a couple of opportunities.

United won most of the 50/50's and also won second balls if the first ones were not won. We completely dominated the spine of the game with the centre backs, midfield and forwards outplaying their respective opponents, but even more than the individual battles we won, we actually played smatterings of decent football. We seem to have regained a great deal of confidence after 2 or 3 really good results. We kept the ball much better than we have for some time with Speed and Tonge to the fore wanting to get on the ball and always looked like we may create chances due to wingers getting white paint on their boots and also being direct and going at their full backs, particularly Cotterill. Hulse was a battering ram up front, but showed no little skill and was very reminiscent of last season. Norwich had no answer to him. He did everything for the team but score. Sharp also looked a goal threat and despite missing a few, kept going and got the vital opener when it looked like we may not make our territorial advantage count.

We should stay up comfortably now but those talking playoffs are probably a bit off the mark as we now have 2 away games and also some tough games to come against the likes of Bristol City and Hull at home. A top 10 finish should be our aim and to build for next season. It does look like that whatever the merits of Blackwell that he will now be in charge next season. At times the football, aside from today, has been no better than that under Robson, but for the most part he has delivered results and solidified the team. We do look far more organised than we have for some time today and the shape of the team was much better that allowed us to both attack and defend as a team. As Blackwell said at the end of the game, we now look more like a unit than the dysfunctional side he inherited. A damning indictment on the previous stewardship it may be but you cannot argue that players seem to know their roles a lot better and are working for each other more than they did previously. It may not be brilliant but no one can disagree that there have been improvements that may be slight in some areas, such as ball retention and football played, but substantial in others, in terms of work rate and application.

Kenny 7/10
Did not have too much to do but dealt with most things and made a couple of smart saves in the second half when called upon including a good save from Cureton down to his left at the Kop end. Distribution was indifferent again with a few nice quick throws out mixed with some wayward kicks. His form though has been a telling factor in our upward rise in recent weeks and seems to be talking to his defence a lot more. A lot has been made of Tonge's improvements but one more unnoticed factor seems to be Kenny's who has got back to the standards he set in 2002/03, so Blackwell is clearly using his own experience in that position to help.

Geary 7.5/10
Played very well from a defensive standpoint and really limited Huckerby who was as ineffective as I have ever seen him against a United team. He got forward well and overlapped one or two times and linked up better with Cotterill than he has done in recent weeks.

Naysmith 7.5/10
Much better performance. Defended solidly and sensibly. Looked a good player today, which belies how he has performed for much of the season. He limited his winger, Gibbs who has some good pace, and was able to limit supply completely down his side. Made some good blocks and also got forward to put one or two excellent crosses in, including one early on where Sharp should have profited from Beattie's knock down.

Kilgallon 7.5/10
Defended solidly although he was not up against much in two small and not particularly quick strikers. He did all the basics and then weighed in with a great headed goal. Others may have had outstanding games on odd occasions this season and many have been average-poor for the most part, but Kilgallon has been consistently good all season. Must be a strong contender for player of the season.

Morgan 7.5/10
Won absolutely everything in the air all day but that was no surprise considering the midgets he was up against but also on set plays he stopped any of their bigger players, Shackell, Dublin or Doherty causing any influence. He just did the basic defending. It may not have been pretty but he was rock solid today and did not let much get past him.

Speed 7.5/10
An improved display. He actually did many things today that I expected of him when he came. Won a lot of headers both in general play and on set plays but also helped us keep the ball very well. Made some nice simple balls today but also played quite a few really good medium-long balls right to the feet of United players.

Tonge 7.5/10
Continued his excellent form since Blackwell took over. He showed a lot of effort, won a lot of balls he previously was not winning and contributed to some of our better passing moves, of which they were many today. Really seen a substantial improvement since the change of managerial team.

Cotterill 8/10
A more consistent performance today and a real threat. He still frustrates at times but one or two great crosses in that ought to have led to goals until one finally did when Sharp scored. He is definitely an enigma who has talent but needs to show consistency. When he gets wide and runs at the full back and produces some of the really dangerous crosses he can do, then he is a real asset. A lot of our most dangerous attacks came from his side and his strong running.

Carney 7/10
An odd player who shows glimpses of genuine quality and really nice touch on the ball but still seems to want an age to do things which he clearly is not given at Championship level. Daft as it sounds he may do better in the Premiership due to more time you often get on the ball and it not being such a frenetic pace. He takes a good set play as evidence by 3 or 4 excellent corners including the one we scored from. He also played quite a few nice balls and flicks and looked good when we were attacking. He just needs to be more aware of things and show a bit more urgency. Defensively he is a liability and he does not watch runners or loses his full back as he often gets caught ball watching.

Sharp 7.5/10
Another performance that had tons of effort again but like Tuesday he actually looked a goal threat and linked well with his strike partner. He should have scored early when he missed a sitter but kept going and had numerous other attempts before scoring a really good goal. After this he always wanted to get on the ball, turn and try a shot. His confidence has started to visibly increase. His actual hold up play was very good and showed signs of a decent partnership with Hulse.

Hulse 8.5/10
Finally we saw a performance that was more like the old Rob Hulse of last season. For 3 months since he returned we have seen someone who has looked almost afraid of contact, not really looked a goal threat and struggled to be the solid hold up/target man he was at a very high level last year. Today he showed all the qualities that I have described. He held the ball up, brought people into play, looked strong, won headers and was also a goal threat. He completely battered his opponent Jason Shackell who could do nothing but revert to fouling him and was eventually substituted. He deserved a goal today and hopefully his injury when he went off 10 minutes from the end is not too bad. He did jog off gingerly despite reports in some sources that he limped off so I think he will be ok.

Subs

Stead
Came on and looked good. He made one or two enterprising runs and also held up play well. A very useful player to bring on for the last 10 minutes of a game due to his skill and willingness to chase lost causes.

Ehiogu
Came on as he did Tuesday for the final few minutes and to help contain Dublin.

Norwich

Very, very poor. Slow, pedestrian, unorganised and few goal threats of note. They badly lacked passion, will to win and frankly never looked like taking anything back to Norfolk. In fact they resembled the United team under Robson, with a mixture of young players not quite good enough and old players that have clearly seen better days, although ironically the likes of Dublin and Doherty cannot have done any worse than the mostly inexperienced side that started the game. I did not think I would see a slower team than United this season but today I saw one.

They played a few pockets of good football but only really had one decent spell in the first half around the half hour with a few efforts and a similar spell around the hour after we had already gone 2-0 up. They could have scored 2 or 3 goals themselves but then you could say United could have scored 9 or 10 in comparison. Apart from these few moments Norwich offered, they were outplayed from start to finish and can have no complaints.

The two centre backs were dreadful particularly Shackell, who was appalling from start to finish and had to be taken off before he was sent off after committing umpteen fouls that finally saw him booked and left him treading a thin line. Their two full backs also had an uncomfortable afternoon with Otsemobor being beaten on numerous occasions by Cotterill. He also could have been sent off, as he never seemed to play the ball, always going for the man when he was run at. They offered very little up front and there main danger man Darren Huckerby was completely snubbed out by Derek Geary. Up front, I had heard good reports about the young Welsh forward, Evans, but with little service he barely threatened. Ditto for Cureton who only had a couple of efforts on goal and was ineffective against United's defence often having to battle for long and high balls. Roeder came in when they were rock bottom and did a great job in taking them up the league but they have slumped badly in the last month and are now back in a relegation battle. They are the sort of side that looked as if it lacked fight and they could get sucked into things if they do not improve on performances like the one they served up today.

Referee

Michael Oliver had an odd game. He seemed to sometimes want to let things flow then at other times wanted to halt proceedings and stop any advantage to the team that had been fouled. He also only booked Shackell when the crowd bayed for it, after a lesser foul than the ones he had let go. He really did not want to book people which is a quality I admire in referees instead of brandishing cards all over the place as shown by our friend Mr Kettle the other night, but at times I felt the referee today needed to show a sterner hand. Some of the fouls commited on Hulse were cynical and it was no surprise when he had to leave after he had been kicked yet again. The linesman on the South Stand side seemed half asleep at times and looked to have missed the ball going out two or three times.

Crowd

Another good crowd that appreciated United's efforts as shown by the rare standing ovation when they left the field a half time despite the goalless score line. The fans saw the effort but also saw a better standard of football than they have seen for some time with attempts to pass the ball, link up play and try different things. The crowd volume rose in the second half and of course was lifted even further when they scored the goals. It shows that if United start games well, as they did today, the crowd will back them. If Robson had got the team playing at a high tempo at the start of games then that knows his teams may have had more success.