The Blades made a classy 4-0 reverse look almost routine last night at Sheffield FC's Bright Finance Stadium. Nick Montgomery, who missed much of last season through illness and injury, opened the scoring within the first five minutes whilst second half goals from Lee Hendrie, Danny Webber and Jordan Robertson wrapped up the victory.
Monty's goal was a well-timed volley from the edge of the box but despite the obvious emphasis on pushing forward, those at the back were also organised. Former England U19 keeper Jamie Annerson was vocal in the net whilst Ehiogu was a rock in central defence. This allowed Kyle Naughton and Jihai to push forward, the latter earning a corner after former Blades youngster Stephen Hernandez could only parry his shot.
Carney seemed to have a free reign down the left side and showed an improved understanding with Jihai from the one we saw at Stocksbridge earlier in the week. Nicky Law out on the right had a fairly quiet game, producing a soft header into the keeper's arms and some fairly decent runs but his crossing occasionally let him down.
Annerson showed some of the maverick attitude that can make watching Paddy Kenny so nerve wracking, leaving his box under pressure to not quiet head the ball clear. Although he wasn't required, Jihai quickly spotted the danger and covered.
The second half saw Danny Webber replace Jack Adams and immediately, Carney and Webber were linking up well, producing some intelligent balls which sliced through a tiring Club defence. Carney in particular seemed to provide more in the second half, setting up both Montgomery and Law who could both only fire wide.
A hopefully lofted ball forward lead to the second goal, with Robertson heading down for Hendrie in the box, who didn't even have to look up to find the corner of the net. It was clear that Webber was looking to add to his pre-season goal tally, firing over from the edge of the box and just failing to get on the end of a Carney through ball to the byline. It wasn't long before he added to the scoring however, the Club defence notably absent as Webber's shot from the edge of the box bounced under a diving Hernandez.
Webber almost scored again shortly after. The linesman who was constantly behind play, missed Webber receiving the ball in an offside position and unleashing a stinging shot forcing Hernandez to make a fingertip save.
Keith Quinn replaced Carney and immediately got stuck in, but it was clear that Sheffield had given up the ghost. Jordan Robertson completed the scoring with a tap-in and Adam Chapman was unlucky to see his shot rebound back into play from the underside of the bar.
Hungarian trialist Laszlo Fitos came on as a second half substitute, but despite looking busy, did nothing of real note.
Sheffield United: Annerson, Naughton, Jihai, Montgomery, Ehiogu, Lowton, Law, Hendrie, Robertson, Adams, Carney.
Subs: Tahar, Ho Lee, Wedgebury, Askham, Webber, Fitos, Quinn (K), Chapman, Travis.
EDIT: Forgot to add, attendance was 1103
Can't remember which subs replaced who... I was only taking notes as a text message on my phone.
Disagree or think you can do better? Fire away!
you where to busy following me 
