Lambert: A Huge Point Saturday, 22nd Dec 2018 18:05 Boss Paul Lambert felt Town’s point against Sheffield United was "huge" as the Blues built on last weekend's victory over Wigan and closed the gap to safety to only four points plus goal difference. Reflecting on the 1-1 draw with the Blades, Lambert said: “They’re as good a team as I’ve seen in the short time I’ve been here. “All credit to my own team, we’re a really young side, so much inexperience, as I’ve always said. “Delighted with the application and the enthusiasm for the game’s great. We try to play a game against a really good side and towards the end it could have gone either way, but credit to them they’re a really good side.” Lambert believes the point is a significant one against a team which went into the match fifth, but which ends the afternoon sixth. “Huge, they’re sitting in the top five,” he reflected. “As I said before, if you look at our team, Dozzell, Lankester, Flynn Downes, Chalobah, they’re all 18 or 19-year-olds. “I’d love to know if there’s another team in the division with that number of players at that age. “The midfield is so inexperienced it’s not true, but what they have got is a great desire. “I think Chalobah is going to be an exceptional player. Andre was getting his first start in a while. “We’re getting there, slowly but surely, we need a little bit of help, as I’ve always said. “They’re full of experience Sheffield United, they really are, they’re a really good side.” Regarding Ellis Harrison’s goal, he added: “It was brilliant, it was a fantastic goal. It was a good bit of pressure on the ball which made the goal happen. “It’s just wonder finish. I’m delighted for him. He’s been patient, he was injured when I first came in and Jordan Roberts’s performances have been very, very high, him and Kayden Jackson’s, but I just thought I’d throw him in for this one.” Having conceded Billy Sharp’s goal just after the break, Lambert felt his team showed great spirit and also felt the crowd played their part. “They did, but the atmosphere in the stadium helps that as well,” he said. “As I said before, the atmosphere’s fantastic here. I really enjoy playing here and I think everybody can see it. As I said before, we’re in the fight, that’s for sure.” Does he believe his team are starting to get some momentum going? “I’m getting blood out of the stone, as they say. I’m getting everything out of them, I can’t ask for any more, they need a little bit of help as I’ve always said. “Whether it comes or doesn’t come, [then] it doesn’t come, but I know in my own mind we need a little help, everybody recognises it. “We’ve a lot of lads here that have never played this division, a lot of them. When push comes to shove, not many have played in the division. “Everybody else, the teams are all experienced. These are young guys who are trying to make a name for themselves in the game. They came from the lower leagues. “I was asked before, ‘How do you make them better?’. I think that’s there for you to see. I can’t ask for any more effort, I love working with them, they’ve been absolutely brilliant.” Speaking on Thursday, Lambert said some of the terms loan players are available on are outrageous. “They are, I know exactly what it’s like,” he added. “The Championship’s a knock-on effect of the Premier League. The finances are really incredible with some of it and you can’t put the club in precarious position. “If people it’s dead easy to get a loan in, it’s not, because the finances are huge at certain times. “We’ll work to make sure this club is going to be stable for a number of years.” Regarding Oliver Norwood’s off the ball challenge on Trevoh Chalobah late in the second half, Lambert was convinced it should have been a red card. “Yes, I thought they should have [reduced to 10 men],” he said. “I think [Blades manager] Chris [Wilder] said the same. I think it’s a stonewall red card. “I think the referee… I need to choose my words here because I don’t want to lose some money over the Christmas period. “I think you all saw it, I think the referee was indecisive with certain decisions and I thought that was a red card. Chris said the same. “But the actual foul leading up to it might have been Sheffield United’s foul but he let that one go. But how that’s not a red card I don’t know." Sheffield United assistant manager Alan Knill thought the Blades were going to win the game once they had equalised. “I thought we dominated the game, to be fair, from start to finish,” he reflected. “We had a dodgy five or six minutes after they scored but apart from that I thought we were pretty much in control really. “The only thing that was missing was obviously a clinical finish at the end of it.” Blades skipper Billy Sharp, 32, missed a number of first-half opportunities but netted the visitors’ equaliser soon after the break. “Billy Sharp keeps going, doesn’t he?” Knill added. “He’s not disappointed when he doesn’t score. He keeps going into those areas where he can score and thankfully he was on the end of a great ball to get us back into the game at one-all. “I’ll be honest, I thought we were going to, not comfortably win the game, but win the game from there, but it wasn’t to be.” Asked whether he was worried Norwood would be shown a red card, he said: “I’ll be honest with you, I thought the first incident was a foul for us. I thought Chalobah fouled Ollie and then as Ollie’s got up he’s just run into the back of him and, yeah, it could go any way that. “The crowd got up and it could influence [the referee] but in the end I thought it was the right decision really. Of course I did, didn’t I!”
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