Friday night at Deepdale delivered a pulsating Championship clash that left fans breathless and managers with plenty to ponder. Sheffield United, riding high after two consecutive wins, looked set to cap off a stellar week as they stormed to a 2-0 lead within the opening 17 minutes against Preston North End. Yet, in a dramatic turnaround, Preston staged a remarkable comeback, ultimately triumphing 3-2 and ending an eight-game winless streak against the Blades.
The match began with a sense of anticipation, fueled by the history between the two managers. Chris Wilder, Sheffield United’s boss, had brought Preston’s current manager Paul Heckingbottom to the Blades back in 2020 to oversee the under-23s. Heckingbottom later took the reins as permanent boss, guiding United to promotion in 2023. Ahead of the game, Wilder expressed his admiration for his former colleague. “I know Paul well, so I have a lot of admiration and respect for Paul. I'm sure people realise it was me who brought him into the football club. He's a good character and he knows the culture and values of our football club, and I'm sure he's trying to implement those cultures and values from his successful time here, into Preston North End,” Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield.
Despite a rocky start to their season—Preston had lost their previous two games and managed just two wins in their last eight—Heckingbottom’s squad was described by Wilder as “full of good loans and really experienced Championship players, so it's always a tough test home and away and we're expecting nothing else.”
From the first whistle, Sheffield United looked the sharper side. Andre Brooks broke the deadlock early, and Callum O'Hare doubled the lead with a stunning solo effort. For the opening quarter of an hour, it seemed the Blades would run away with it. Wilder’s men pressed high, forced mistakes, and looked every bit the team on a roll. “I thought we got the press right, we forced them into situations and traps, broke it up and scored two good goals. We should have been three or four up at half-time,” Wilder reflected to Sky Sports.
But football’s a funny old game. Just as United looked to be cruising, Preston found a lifeline. On the stroke of half-time, Lewis Dobbin pulled a goal back, shifting the momentum and giving the home crowd something to cheer. Wilder acknowledged the significance: “The goal gave them a huge lift.”
The second half couldn’t have started worse for the Blades. Just 52 seconds after the restart, a free-kick into the box led to a chaotic own goal by United captain Japhet Tanganga, leveling the score. Wilder later dissected the moment: “We concede a free-kick straight after half-time... allow them to put the ball in our box, we get blocked, boy wins a header, it comes off Japh and then all of a sudden it is game on and it’s two each.”
Preston, sensing blood, pressed forward. In the 58th minute, former Sheffield United striker Daniel Jebbison rose to meet a cross from Andrija Vukcevic, powering home a header to complete the comeback. The home crowd erupted. United, now trailing, pushed for an equalizer. O’Hare came agonizingly close in the 71st minute, dragging a shot wide from close range. Substitute Djibril Soumare and Harrison Burrows both had late chances, but the ball simply wouldn’t go in for the visitors.
Statistically, United could count themselves unlucky. They finished with 2.4 expected goals (xG) from 12 attempts, compared to Preston’s 1.6. Yet, Preston converted all three of their shots on target from 15 total attempts. Wilder’s frustration was palpable. “I’m scratching my head how we've not walked away with three points, unbelievable. But we only have ourselves to blame. Game management, naivety of the team,” he told Football Heaven after the match.
For the Blades, the defeat was particularly painful given their strong start and the chance to secure a third straight win. Wilder was quick to refute the idea that his side’s loss was down to a fragile mentality, a theory floated by some supporters post-match. “That's an easy, cheap one that you can say. It's an easy one, isn't it? ‘We caved, we gave in.’ You've got to give credit to the opposition. They sniffed it and stuck it on us. So you've got to give them that credit. We'd have been exactly the same,” he insisted. He did, however, admit, “Yeah, we are a young side, and we are naive in our approach in certain moments. They didn't give it up.”
Wilder’s assessment was clear: the team’s inexperience and poor decision-making at key moments cost them dearly. “Responsibility and accountability in those big periods that we had because at times, it was really good. We have to take the game away. Then we have to realise, coming up to half-time, that there's game management about it,” he said. He also pointed out that, had his team truly lacked character, the defeat could have been much heavier. “If you want to go down that road, in the position we’re in and with the young players that we've got and where we're at, then we might have got done four, five or six. But we didn't. And we did enough, in my opinion, to get something from the game. Because we had a right go towards the second part of the second half.”
For Preston, the win was a significant milestone. Not only did it propel them to fifth in the Championship standings, but it also marked their first victory over Sheffield United since April 2018 and their first comeback win after trailing at half-time since April 2024 against Huddersfield Town. Heckingbottom, reflecting on the result, was honest about his team’s performance. “It's a really good win, the main thing for us is we kept our heads. We started brilliantly, then we had a 10 or 15-minute spell when we totally went off the rails, and that was the message at half-time. We're really disappointed with the goals we've given away, but really proud of the players once again. It's just ironic that's probably our worst performance of the three we've had, and it's the one game we've won,” he told Sky Sports.
It was a night of mixed emotions for both managers—admiration, frustration, pride, and a touch of disbelief. As the Championship season rolls on, both teams will be looking to take the lessons from this rollercoaster encounter. Preston will hope the resilience shown at Deepdale becomes a hallmark of their campaign, while Sheffield United will be desperate to turn strong starts into full points, especially as they hover just one point above the relegation zone.
One thing’s for sure: this was a night that reminded everyone why the Championship is one of the most unpredictable and thrilling leagues in world football. Both sets of fans left with plenty to talk about—and the rest of the season promises even more drama.
