SHEFFIELD UNITED SQUANDERED the opportunity to move to the top of the English Championship this evening, despite holding a 3-0 lead with eight minutes of normal time remaining against Aston Villa.

The Blades were coasting at Villa Park thanks to a hat-trick from Billy Sharp. They went into the game knowing that a win would send them to the summit of the table by virtue of their superior goal difference over Norwich City and Leeds United.

However, Villa pulled off a stunning comeback in the closing stages, with Andre Green heading in an equaliser for the home side in the fourth minute of added time. The result sees them leapfrog neighbours Birmingham City into eighth, three points adrift of the play-offs.

Ireland’s Conor Hourihane started in midfield for Villa, who also introduced Glenn Whelan as a second-half substitute. John Egan and Enda Stevens were part of Sheffield United’s back five, with David McGoldrick coming off the bench with 20 minutes to go.

After giving Sheffield United the lead in the 11th minute, Sharp took his tally for the season to 22 by scoring twice in the space of nine second-half minutes as Chris Wilder’s side moved into a 3-0 lead just after the hour mark.

In the 82nd minute, Hourihane grabbed his ninth assist of the season by setting up Tyrone Mings to pull one back for Villa on his home debut, before Tammy Abraham found the net four minutes later to set up a grandstand finish.

Green headed home John McGinn’s cross from the right in the 94th minute to complete the most unlikely of comebacks for Dean Smith’s men.

Following a tough Six Nations opening defeat to England, Joe Schmidt will look to regroup against a dangerous Scotland side. This week, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey are joined by Bernard Jackman to assess the damage of last weekend and look ahead to the clash in Murrayfield:

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