Shipperley gives Wimbledon edge over distracted Blades

Losing to Wimbledon was not exactly Sheffield United's ideal preparation for an FA Cup semi-final but then again when was playing the south Londoners the right preparation for anything?

A 60,000 crowd at Old Trafford awaits the Yorkshiremen for their FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal on Sunday. However this hastily re-arranged match, which saw Adam Nowland sent off in the 83rd minute for two yellow cards in 60 seconds, was played out in front of only 1,325 fans, ensuring United at the weekend will feel the storm after the calm.

Not that all was peaceful on the pitch. This result, which was Wimbledon's first win after three consecutive defeats, was overshadowed by two events.

Firstly Sheffield United full-back Ben Doane, a fringe player who might yet have figured on Sunday, was stretchered off with a possible broken leg after a tackle with Darren Holloway in which both players were initially blameless.

Secondly, as both teams warmed down on a near-freezing night after the match, the home side's Nigel Reo-Coker and visitors' goalkeeper Paddy Kenny had to be separated after the latter squirted a water bottle at the former. Stewards and team-mates waded in as hostilities broke out.

United's manager, Neil Warnock, was clearly dismayed by the injury to Doane, giving him further injury headaches before what is their biggest game of the season. But he did not spend long on it, merely saying that Holloway should have had a red card or nothing, but not the subsequent yellow card.

Warnock's counterpart Stuart Murdoch was more upset with Holloway's reaction after the 50-50 tackle, as he continued to tangle with Doane.

He said: "I will deal with that. As for the fight on the pitch, I didn't see it but I heard about it. I will deal with that too, when I know all the facts."

In the light of what happened to Doane, Warnock was right to rest seven players ahead of their showdown on Sunday. As it was, this game was United's second in three days at Selhurst Park, having drawn rather fortunately, on Saturday against Crystal Palace, landlords of the south London ground.

Warnock said: "I feel like I've been in London a month." He complained that United had been unlucky to lose, having had the lion's share of chances on a bone-shakingly cold night, but they lost to Neil Shipperley's 20th goal of the season.

Patrick Agyemang exploited some poor defending after 38 minutes, when he ducked inside and hit a shot which Paddy Kenny could only parry leaving Shipperley there for the rebound. Not surprisingly, United had a hesitant, disjointed feel to their play, with so many fringe players involved in the action.

Wimbledon: 4-4-2: Davis; Hawkins, Leigertwood, Andersen, Holloway; Tapp, Agyemang, Reo-Coker, Nowland; Connolly, Shipperley (Gier, 88). Substitutes not used: Gray, Chorley, Gordon, Gore.

Sheffield United: 4-4-2: Kenny; Doane (Tonge, 58), Page, Murphy, Cas; Morrison, Javary (Ndlovu, 82) Rankine, Montgomery; Windass (Asaba, 82), Peschisolido. Substitutes not used: McCall, Kabba.

Referee: P Armstrong (Berks).