Sheffield United reduced the gap between themselves and Championship leaders Leeds United to just two points again on Wednesday night, with a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough.
Leeds United fans will have been watching on, hoping that Luke Ayling’s Boro could do Leeds a favour and take some points off Chris Wilder’s side. It was hopeful, when Boro cancelled out The Blades’ opener.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi opened the scoring for Sheffield United, before Delano Burgzorg equalised from the penalty spot for Middlesbrough on 45 minutes. However, Sheffield United took control in the second 45.
Goals from Ben Brereton Diaz and Anel Ahmedhodzic did the damage and saw Sheffield United win for the 21st time in the league this season, one more than Leeds. Gustavo Hamer commented on the race.
Gustavo Hamer says if Sheffield United can keep pace with Leeds
With 14 games to play, the race to finish in the automatic promotion places is really heating up. Leeds remain top of the tree, but Sheffield United are again breathing down the neck of Daniel Farke’s side.
Burnley and Sunderland also picked up wins on Wednesday. Speaking afterwards, Hamer gave his verdict on the promotion race – just months after Leeds tabled a £13m bid to sign Hamer from Sheffield United.
“We did really well and you’ve seen how good we can be. It was class today. It [the promotion race] is tough, the top four are all doing well. But we have to look at ourselves and just keep winning,” he said.
“We’ve got Luton this weekend and then a massive one a week on Monday. We just have to keep winning our games and then it doesn’t matter what anyone else does,” Hamer continued, as per the Sheffield Star.
How the Championship table now looks with 14 games left…
The race for promotion will have it’s twists and turns and the first could arrive this weekend with Sheffield United and Burnley both in action on Saturday. The Blades could actually go first with a win over Luton.
| Position | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | GD | Points |
| 1. Leeds | 32 | 20 | 9 | 3 | 47 | 69 |
| 2. Sheff Utd | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 23 | 67 |
| 3. Burnley | 32 | 17 | 13 | 2 | 30 | 64 |
| 4. Sunderland | 32 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 21 | 62 |
Burnley play first, going to Lancashire rivals Preston on Saturday at midday. By the time Leeds take on rivals Sunderland on Monday night at Elland Road, Burnley may have even reduced the gap to two points.
So, with 14 Championship games to play, Leeds are preparing for a massive week. Sunderland at home and then Sheffield United away a week later, this next fortnight is going to be enormous for The Whites.
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