Sky Sports pundits say Sheffield United must be in disbelief after play-off defeat, they’ll be full of ‘regret’

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Despite controlling the game for the majority of this afternoon’s Championship play-off final, Sheffield United were defeated by Sunderland in the dying moments.

Sheffield United went into the Championship play-offs as one of the strongest teams the league has ever seen, but they still ended up in third place.

Then, the Blades battered Bristol City in the semi-finals to secure their place at Wembley. Our team expected a United win, and so did the Opta supercomputer’s prediction, too.

A dominant first-half display from Chris Wilder’s men left little room for doubt, but then, Sunderland staged a fightback that will go down in history to clinch the win and steal promotion away from under Sheffield United’s noses.

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What the Sky Sports team said about Sheffield United’s shock defeat

Overall, it’s a hard one to even dissect from the outside. The Sheffield United players performed pretty well on the day, they controlled the game for around 70 minutes, and then it all fell apart.

It was a shock result for neutrals to witness, and it’s safe to say that feeling of disbelief will be flowing through the United dressing room now.

As part of Sky Sports’ coverage of the game, various pundits had their say on how Sheffield United will be feeling.

Don Goodman said, “Sheffield United will live with this regret for a long time,” while Tim Thornton added, “Sheffield United will be kicking themselves. They’ve looked so in control for so much of this game.”

Meanwhile, Andy Hinchcliffe said: “The overriding feeling amongst the Sheffield United players will be ‘how did that just happen?'”

Indeed, not just on this day, but over the course of the season, Sheffield United will be frustrated having spent so long in the top two spots in the league and now, facing another campaign in the Championship.

Tommy Watson’s perfect send-off for Sunderland lifted the roof at Wembley, but it is a massive sucker punch for United that’ll be hard to recover from.

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Sheffield United become the worst play-off team ever

Sheffield United’s awful play-off record continues in the worst possible fashion here, with this being their ninth failed attempt at gaining promotion via this route.

In fact, United are now the least successful play-off team in the EFL, having failed in five finals across their history.

This defeat also ends Chris Wilder’s streak of never having lost a play-off game, and it will be fascinating to see if he can lift the Blades to go again next year and put this right.