Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder felt the 2-1 victory at QPR was the “perfect response” to losing to promotion rivals Leeds – and said his players had lifted his spirits after a difficult week.
The Blades clinched a fifth consecutive away win to cut the gap on Sky Bet Championship leaders Leeds to three points – five days after losing at home to them.
Leeds’ five-match winning run ended earlier on Saturday when they drew 1-1 with West Brom.
The Blades took advantage with Ben Brereton Diaz’s early goal and Tyrese Campbell’s thumping second-half strike putting them two up at Loftus Road, where they held on after Michael Frey’s penalty.
“It was the perfect response after a disappointing evening on Monday,” Wilder declared.
“I’m delighted with the reaction from Monday night. We were all pretty down on Tuesday. To play as well as we did and not get anything from the game was quite difficult to take.
“But we talked about it, it can’t define our season, and our reaction to the disappointment has been absolutely first class. We put everything into this game.
“They (the players) lifted me this week because we were really down on Monday night and Tuesday. The attitude of the group when we came into work was incredibly positive.
“There’s times I have to lift the players but certainly the players and their approach – they’ve done outstandingly well.”
Rangers caused United problems and put them under plenty of pressure, particularly after Frey’s spot-kick.
Wilder added: “We got tested right the way through the game, which we knew we would be. Our away record has been earned through days like today.
“I’ve got a real good group of players that are desperately trying to win games and we showed the reason that our away record is rock solid.
“We had to see it out and do what we needed to do to get the three points. Our attitude towards winning games is there for all to see.
“This is the business end of the season where you roll yourselves up.”
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes was proud of his team’s performance but admitted their opponents’ quality in the final third of the pitch proved decisive.
“We created enough chances to score more but the reality of football is that it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality,” said the Spaniard.
“They got a really good second goal. Perhaps for both goals we could have done better but I felt the team performed at a high level and it’s just a pity we didn’t get more from it.
“We played against a quality side that had two or three moments in the game and were able to win the game because of them.
“I feel very proud of my players because I felt we were dominant for many moments of the game. We really pushed a team that are performing at a really high level. I felt my players did really well.
“For many minutes of the game I felt we really pushed them.
“We are here to win games and will always feel disappointed to lose but probably in a couple of days I will look back and feel this is a team myself and the fans can feel proud of.”
