Blackie's a happy man

Last updated : 29 November 2009 By Bladesmadeditor

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It appeared that Sheffield United inexplicably threw away a half-time lead when Louis Carey's header and Alvaro Saborio's 95th minute poke into Carl Ikeme's bottom-corner levelled the score-line. Two goal hitman Darius Henderson had other ideas, though, when 17 seconds later, he fired the ball into the net in front of the joyful Blades fans, much to their, and their manager's relief. This destroyed Bristol City's 11-month unbeaten home record.

Henderson is joint second in the top scorers' list in the Championship, and he will welcome the plaudits from the fans, who the majority criticised the former Watford front-man. Kevin Blackwell echoed the supporters' praises on Hendo.

He begun: "His reputation in the Championship is that he is one of the top strikers and even when he is not scoring he is contributing.

"He was immense today and I'm pleased he got his just rewards. McCombe is a big lad and was put on him all game but Darius bossed him. He takes terrific batterings from centre halves but I think he can get 20 goals this season.

"I said to him before the game, thinking that he was on eight goals, that he could be on 10 tonight. I was wrong, because he was on seven, but he's still on 10!"

The Blades cemented their second win in a row at a damp Ashton Gate, something which Blackwell is delighted about, and the resilience the players have produced will help the gaffer have comfortable nights.

Blackie went on: "I said all along that if we can clear up the injuries and get a settled team we will win games. We set our gameplan out and I was pleased how it worked.

"City have only lost three games at home in the last two or three years so we knew it was going to be tough but we were like the United of old, digging in and the goals we scored were first class.

"I've been saying to the lads that if we can get everyone fit, win some games and get into the top ten by Christmas, we'll see where we go from there. We've got hearts as big as buckets, I hope we can stay fit this week and I'll be able to name the same team next week for the first time this season.

"Henderson apart, I want to give special praise to Lee Williamson, Jamie Ward, Nick Montgomery and Carl Ikeme, they were all fantastic.

"Williamson had been ill all week, was sick at half-time and I was asking him to give me five minutes in the second half to sort things out. He does give us something different and when he is fully fit he can do damage to other teams.

"The bad news is that Jon Fortune has ripped his hamstring, stretching in the last minute, and he'll be out for two months."

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