Bristol City defender Rob Dickie was shown a straight red card in the first half of the Robins’ defeat to Sheffield United at Ashton GateChris Wilder and Sheffield United got the better of Bristol City at Ashton Gate(Image: EFL)

Chris Wilder has addressed Liam Manning’s suggestion that Oliver Langford made a “major error” in Bristol City’s play-off defeat to Sheffield United, with the Blades boss quick to question whether or not the Reds head coach had opted to discuss the two penalty decisions that he felt went the Robins’ way at Bramall Lane.

City kicked off their first play-off campaign in 17 years in disappointing fashion as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Wilder’s side on Thursday evening. Goals from Harrison Burrows, Andre Brooks and Callum O’Hare were enough to give United the advantage ahead of the second leg at Bramall Lane on Monday evening.

The opening exchanges at Ashton Gate were incredibly competitive. Tyrese Campbell thought he had given the Blades the lead early on, only for the linesman’s flag to rule the goal out, while Joe Williams rattled the crossbar with a powerful effort from the edge of the penalty area. However, the game was turned on its head when Langford awarded the away side a penalty and showed Rob Dickie a red card for what he adjudged to be a cynical foul on Kieffer Moore.

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Manning was left frustrated by the decision in his post-match press conference, even confirming the Reds had raised concerns about the appointment of Langford in the lead-up to the fixture. Although Wilder could understand the emotion behind the City boss’ verdict, he felt the right decision had been made.

“I don’t think he made an attempt to play the ball, he just dragged him back,” the Blades boss explained post-match. “Did he [Manning] mention about the two penalties at our place in the last minute?

“Listen, it’s an emotional game. From our point of view, in the first game, I asked for the observations on two penalties, one on Harrison and they said it’s not a penalty, and they said the second one was, so we had to suffer then dropping two big points, so I understand. Of course, it swings the game in our favour, but there’s still a job to do.

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“What shape are they going to come out in? What’s their approach? They sat in, obviously brought Sinclair Armstrong onto the pitch, and we had to find those moments and still be diligent in our work defensively. I’ve got to say, I don’t really remember any sort of actions to my right where I thought they had an opportunity of scoring. Play was to my left, I made a couple of substitutions just to freshen it up, a great goal from Brooksy and Callum getting on the end of something has made it a good night for us.

“I think you’ve seen my attitude before the game,” Wilder continued. “I respect the game too much, I respect the opponents, the manager, their players, and their football club too much to know that even at the end, get the players off the pitch. We’ve got to get back to Sheffield, we’ve got to recover, got to reflect on the game, and we’ve got a big night ahead of us on Monday.

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“We’ve got to go and do a professional job like we’ve done tonight.”

Although Manning and the City fans inside Ashton Gate were left irritated by Langford’s decision to send off Dickie, the Blades bench was just as frustrated when the flag was raised to rule out what they thought was their opener early in the first half.

A long throw from the right flank had landed on the head of Campbell, who guided the ball past Max O’Leary and into the Robins’ net. As the forward wheeled away to celebrate, the whistle was blown and play was stopped with Sydie Peck adjudged to have interfered with Jason Knight from an offside position. In the end, the decision had very little impact on proceedings, but Peck was adamant he hadn’t impacted play in that moment.

“We thought we’d got our noses in front with the goal,” Wilder explained. “I’ve got to say, I’ve not looked at it closely or back, but Sydie says the balls gone in the back of the net and he’s not really done anything to sort of hamper anybody.”

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