Aston Villa 1 Sheff Utd 2: Nigel Clough hails ‘incredible’ Blades

Nigel Clough heaped praise on his “incredible” Sheffield United side after the Blades caused the upset of the third round and knocked out Aston Villa.

Sheffield midfielder Jamie Murphy opened the scoring in the 20th minute for the League One side, who are currently 18th in the table, at Villa Park.

We have had a rough six months. This puts a smile on people’s faces

Nigel Clough

Paul Lambert’s men did manage to muster a response courtesy of an equaliser from Villa substitute Nicklas Helenius with 15 minutes remaining.

However Sheffield booked their place in the fourth-round draw thanks to Ryan Flynn’s spectacular winner, and manager Clough hailed his side’s dispay.

“The players were incredible today” Clough told BBC Sport.

“You can fluke a result in a cup but I thought we deserved that win. We played some magnificent stuff at the start of the second half.

“We like to be positive and the lads like to enjoy it, as they did, while working incredibly hard.”

He added: “We have had a rough six months. This puts a smile on people’s faces.”