Sheff Utd 4 – 0 Swansea

Morgan Gibbs-White scored twice as an impressive first-half performance sent play-off chasing Sheffield United on their way to a 4-0 Sky Bet Championship victory over Swansea City and into the top six.

George Baldock and Billy Sharp were also on target before the break while Swansea never threatened to make a game of it, rarely troubling Blades goalkeeper Wes Foderingham.

United boss Paul Heckingbottom made three changes, with Sharp, Sander Berge and John Fleck recalled to the starting line-up. Swansea head coach Russell Martin, meanwhile, recalled Joel Latibeaudiere and Olivier Ntcham.

Ntcham tried an effort from outside the box but lost his footing as he connected with the ball and Chris Basham was able to steer the ball to Foderingham.

Foderingham then had to be alert to collect as Ryan Manning delivered the ball into the path of Joel Piroe.

Gibbs-White opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a fine finish after getting on the end of a superb ball from Oliver Norwood.

Baldock made it 2-0 three minutes later, applying an impressive finish following a good build-up.

Basham, Gibbs-White and Fleck combined to release Rhys Norrington-Davies, whose ball picked out Baldock and his shot went in off the underside of the bar.

Gibbs-White spurned a great chance to put the hosts further ahead when he headed just wide from a Sharp cross.

Ntcham fired a low shot on target but it was no problem for Foderingham, who gathered the ball comfortably.

Sharp made it 3-0 in the 38th minute, receiving the ball from Gibbs-White following a defensive slip before beating the advancing Andy Fisher.

It was a dominant half from the home side, putting them firmly in control at the break.

Baldock put the ball in the net early in the second half but an offside flag cut United’s celebrations short.

Fisher saved a free-kick from Fleck while Gibbs-White and Berge linked up to set up Sharp, who won a corner.

Baldock was forced to go off after receiving lengthy treatment with Charlie Goode, on loan from Brentford, coming on to make his United debut.

Gibbs-White scored his second of the match after good hold-up play from Sharp in the 78th minute.

Norwood had a great chance to add a fifth, blazing over after some slack defending from Swansea.

It is now eight games unbeaten for the Blades and this clean sheet means they have now gone over six hours without conceding a goal.

What the managers said…

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom: “I’m really pleased. We played against a team that can be
difficult to play against and we could and should have had more.

“I’m not going to pick any faults – we were really strong.

“It was a really good second goal. The pleasing thing, again, is that the players want to dominate the ball.

“We needed to probe in midweek whereas today we went about it differently. We won the ball high up and that’s how we created the majority of our chances.

The wing-backs were involved on both sides. I’m not being disrespectful when I say that I’m not surprised how one-sided
the game was.

“George Baldock will have a scan in the next couple of days on his leg injury.

“I’m hoping that Baldock and Chris Basham will be OK after picking up knocks in the second half. Both of them will be assessed.

“I was impressed with Charlie Goode on his debut.”

Swansea City boss Russell Martin: “I feel sorry for the fans that have travelled up in difficult circumstances.

“They deserve better than what we’re giving them away from home at the moment.

“We have a lot of young men who are in the process of growing and learning but we aren’t learning quickly enough, away from home especially.

“We made the same mistakes again. We started so poorly and the game was over after 20 minutes.

“We played against men with a lot of Premier League experience and physical presence.

“The gap between us at our best and our worst is far too big. The gap between us at home and away is far too big, and that’s my fault, so we need to have a look at that.

“A few details in the first 20 minutes in particular have totally cost us. The last 15 minutes of the first-half, the mentality was wrong, the body language, looking around at each other.

“We have to stick together much better than that.”