SHEFFIELD UNITED 1 ALBION 0

Albion missed a great chance to climb the table as they lost at bottom team Sheffield United.

A David McGoldrick goal on 19 minutes settled the contest and left the Seagulls still 16th, seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Jakub Moder had a goal disallowed and Neal Maupay skyed a great chance, as well as being denied by home keeper Aaron Ramsdale.

 But Albion, who would have overhauled Newcastle and Southampton had they won, did not play with the required tempo until the second half.

They are now winless in four matches.

Maupay, Adam Lallana and Jakub Moder were all brought back into the starting XI.

Moder and Pascal Gross played in the wide midfield or wing-back roles they have filled recently.

Ben White served a one-match ban after his red card late in the draw at Stamford Bridge while Alexis Mac Allister and Dan Burn dropped to the bench.

It was Maupay who had the first chance of the contest.

Yves Bissouma showed the sort of power and purpose which is being noticed and admired throughout the Prem when he created the opening on 12 minutes.

Albion had already enjoyed plenty of possession by that point.

But this time Bissouma added some purpose as he drove through the middle and timed his pass, to this right, perfectly.

Maupay was in but his blast hit the oncoming Ramsdale.

Albion were confident enough on the ball to draw the press on to them deep in their own territory and then look to play through or over the top.

But, when they lost possession in the home half, it led to them going behind.

Adam Webster made an initial intervention on the right but pushed the ball ahead of himself and United attacked.

When the cross came in from Ben Osborn, Albion were scrambling to get back into position.

Joel Veltman and Gross had chances to intervene but the ball eventually fell to McGoldrick, who provided a confident finish amid the wreckage around him.

There might have been a second for McGoldrick when Lewis Dunk inexplicably sent the ball straight to him on the edge of the box as Albion passed at the back.

However the United man allowed the ball to get away from him and was booked for his subsequent lunge on Webster as the defender cleared.

Albion were having a lot of possession but lacked the pace or imagination to really pierce their well-organised hosts.

Bissouma was again the man to inject some penetration to their work when he burst into the box to force a corner.

Then he tried his luck from five yards outside the box after cutting in from the left but sent his shot flying high into the empty Kop behind Ramsdale’a goal.

Albion really should have fashioned a good chance to level just before the break.

Gross’s role deep on the right can offer scope to show his passing skills and his clever diagonal ball opened things up.

He got Leandro Trossard breaking away on the left but it all got very intricate between him and Moder, whose eventual effort came off a defender and across the face of goal with no on the end of it.

Albion had made little of their 67% share of first-half possession.

They had a new look for the second half and might have scored within seconds as Lallana shot straight at Ramsdale.

Trossard was now tight to the left touchline with Danny Welbeck and Maupay closer together and Moder away to the right of centre, from where he burst through for that Lallana chance.

The front two were certainly in close proximity when Lallana threaded a pass through. Welbeck touched it on and Maupay saw his shot well saved by Ramsdale low to his right.

Moder thought he had equalised when he hooked home a very nice finish on the right foot from a corner.

But he had come back from what was an offside position when the ball was flicked on.

Albion were playing with greater pace, urgency and width now.

Bissouma flashed a shot across the face of goal as they again got men forward.

Before play could resume, Aaron Connolly and Alireza Jahanbakhsh were on for Moder and Gross.

Jahanbakhsh quickly got involved with a terrific cross from the right which Welbeck could only head wide as he stretched at the far post.

The Iranian was seizing his longer than normal chance to impress.

He skipped his way past a tackle inside the box and drilled over a low cross which Maupay somehow diverted over from point blank range.

Jose Izquierdo was next to go on for the Seagulls, making his first appearance for two years and told to raid wide on the left as he replaced Trossard inside the last ten minutes.

The Colombian almost made it a dream return when he cut inside and let fly from well outside the box.

FULL-TIME VERDICT FROM BRAMALL LANE

Ramsdale dived to his left to push the shot behind.

Robert Sanchez was in attack at the end as Albion forced a corner.

But there was to be no way through.

Sheffield United: Ramsdale; Baldock, Egan, Bryan; Bogle, Norwood, Fleck, Osborn (Lundstram 81), Stevens; McGoldrick, Brewster (Burke 65). Subs: Foderingham, Lowe, Ampadu, Jagielka, Gordon, Brunt, Mousset.

Goal: McGoldrick 19.

Yellow card: McGoldrick (24) foul, Baldock (77) time-wasting, Stevens (89) foul.

Albion: Sanchez; Webster, Dunk, Veltman; Gross (Jahanbakhsh 66), Bissouma, Lallana, Moder (Connolly 66); Trossard (Izquierdo 82), Maupay ; Welbeck. Subs: Steele, Burn, Propper, Zeqiri, Alzate, Mac Allister.

Goal: None.

Yellow card: None.

Referee: Kevin Friend.

VAR: Michael Oliver.