Swansea & Sheff Utd play out dour draw

Sheffield United put their latest financial worries to one side to earn a gritty draw against a toothless Swansea. <p>It was a second successive goalless scoreline for the Blades, who drew 0-0 at Birmingham last weekend.</p><p>Manager Chris Wilder and his team may have had their build-up distracted by the threat of a 12-point deduction for the club due to unpaid debts, but they looked focused and disciplined, if not very threatening.</p><p>They managed two shots on target, compared to a Sky Bet Championship low of zero last week, but that was one more than the Swans mustered.</p><ul><li><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/ChampHLsarticles"><strong>Watch FREE Championship highlights</strong></a> | <a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/EFLblogreports"><strong>Latest EFL news and rumours</strong></a></li><li><strong>Not got Sky? <a href="https://www.sky.com/tv/sports?dcmp=Ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink">Latest Sky Sports deals</a> or <a href="https://www.nowtv.com/membership/watch-sky-sports/football/efl?DCMP=ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink">stream EFL games with no contract</a>\ud83d\udcfa</strong></li></ul><p>The home side started with Adam Idah up front, sent on Zan Vipotnik, and ended up throwing on new signing Ross Stewart for his debut late on.</p><p>But all three failed to fire as Swansea were unable to make it successive wins at the start of the season following last week's victory at Stoke.</p><p>Despite the perfect conditions, neither side was able to display much quality in an error-strewn opening half hour.</p><p>Swansea applied most of the pressure and should have gone ahead when a floated corner from Josh Tymon in the 19th minute was allowed to bounce in the goalmouth, but none of his team-mates were able to take advantage.</p><p>Home winger Moussa Yeo then cut in from the left and was allowed two bites of the cherry to set up Elijah Just.</p><p>But the low grade stuff was summed up by the New Zealand World Cup star's total miskick from 12 yards out.</p><p>When the visitors did make a rare foray forward, midfielder Harrison Burrows was shown a yellow card for diving after what referee Tom Nield judged a fair tackle from Filip Lissah.</p><p>The Blades finally roused themselves in the late stages of the half and almost snatched the lead when Callum O'Hare's volley struck the underside of the bar.</p><p>Joe Rothwell's rebound effort was then charged down and Swansea managed to clear their lines.</p><p>Idah's strength opened up the Sheffield United defence early in the second half, but team-mate Joseph Opoku was unable to profit as his shot lacked power and direction.</p><p>The next opportunity spurned was down to the Blades' centre-back Mark McGuinness who sliced wide with a volley from a free-kick.</p><p>Swansea head coach Vitor Matos swapped Idah for last season's top scorer Vipotnik on the hour mark and followed that with a raft of other substitutions.</p><p>But the changes failed to lift the tempo for the home side and it was the Sheffield United striking pair of O'Hare and Patrick Bamford who looked the more threatening.</p><p>O'Hare cleverly got in behind Swansea's defence, but his cross was not anticipated by a teammate.</p><p>Swansea had a late surge but their finishing remained poor.</p><h3>The managers</h3><p><em>Swansea's Vitor Matos:</em></p><p>"I think last week we played better football, but each game has different kinds of problems.</p><p>"We knew this one would be much more in terms of duels, in terms of man-marking, so you need to have different tools for these kinds of games."</p><p><em>Sheffield United's Chris Wilder:</em></p><p></p><p>"I said to the players there would be a lot of eyes on us today to see how we react to what's happened in the week.</p><p>"Their job is to be professional footballers, get on with the job, and they've done that to great effect, in my opinion.</p><p>"It goes without saying how proud I am of my football club, the supporters and the team. There's a genuine connection there."</p><h3>What the result means and next fixtures...</h3><widget id="4"></widget><ul><li><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/Champscoresarticles"><strong>Championship fixtures</strong></a></li></ul> <widget id="1"></widget>