Chris Wilder bemoans red card decision in Sheffield United’s draw at Birmingham

Chris Wilder criticised the decision that reduced Sheffield United to 10 men for three quarters of their 1-1 draw with Birmingham.

Referee Tim Robinson judged Femi Seriki was the last defender when he fouled Ibrahim Osman in the 23rd minute at St Andrew’s.

Birmingham’s Marvin Ducksch curled the resulting free-kick past Adam Davies and, having made a good start to the game, the Blades found themselves a goal and a player down.

They should have equalised six minutes later when Sydie Peck missed a penalty, awarded after Jack Robinson needlessly handled in his own area. James Beadle saved a weak spot-kick which was scrambled to safety.

United did level in first-half stoppage time when Patrick Bamford latched onto Harrison Burrows’ ball over the top, took it around Beadle and rolled it into an empty net.

In all, Birmingham hit the woodwork four times, three from Ducksch alone, but the visitors held on for a point.

“I can’t believe for the life of me they can just go for making that decision because it’s so grey and it’s not even grey, it’s more towards us,” Wilder said.

“Tyler Bindon’s there on the cover, the pace on the ball goes through to Adam Davies and it goes to his (Osman’s) left-hand side, the boy’s never getting there.

“They go over and talk to the linesman and they come to a decision. The referee’s not clear on it, the linesman’s clear on it and then the double whammy of obviously an unbelievable free-kick going in the top corner.”

However, Birmingham boss Chris Davies disagreed, saying: “A definite red card, he’s through on goal, he’s the quickest player on the pitch, he’s taking his touch forward and he’s taken down.”

Wilder was also unhappy with the criticism his team received after their midweek defeat to Norwich and being held to a home draw by West Brom last Saturday.

“How people can question our togetherness is absolutely ridiculous from my point of view,” he added.

“It’s such a lazy way of going about it, when you lose a game, ‘They’re not trying, they’re not running around’. I’ve got the data, they run around.

“We lost a game to a decent side on Wednesday night. We didn’t finish off a team on Saturday, we’ve got no divine right to win games in this division, especially as we all talk about not a straightforward season.

“We’re not letting anybody down, there’s no guarantee when I walk through the door that we’re just going to go and win 25 games of football and go up.

“I thought the reaction to that was first class. Sometimes it’s not a win, it’s not a draw, it’s the manner of how you go about it.

“The football part of it is really important but it has to be underpinned by resilience, pride, togetherness, bravery, character, personality, belief and I thought from that moment on, then missing the penalty, to a man they left everything out there.”

Davies felt his side did enough to win, and said: “A real turning point is the goal just before half-time, it gives them something to hang onto, a goal out of nothing. Really sloppy from our point of view.

“Second half my feeling is that we were huffing and puffing and the players gave absolutely everything.”