I nicknamed Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager, ‘Whiny’ after his hilariously bitter reaction to losing to Norwich earlier this season. Not only does he look like what I see in my mind’s eye when I think of the typical Brexit voter, but Wilder lost all credibility when he tried to blame the City coach driver for his side’s defeat.

All this made it all the more galling this afternoon when Whiny Wilder walked over to the Blades fans pumping his fists in the air having just taken the three points from Carrow Road. While I will never be able to take him seriously after his rant, they clearly love him, and you’d expect that having finally got them out of League One and taking a group of bang average players into the top six more than halfway through the Championship season.

Norwich’s heroic performance against Chelsea on Wednesday had done the world of good for the club’s image, with disillusioned City fans getting firmly back on board and the casual BBC One viewer being impressed with the effort put in against the champions. Having worked so hard at Stamford Bridge, however, and with such a thin squad it was inevitable that tiredness would be a factor. Daniel Farke would have been keen to avoid using that as an excuse, but it was clear that there were weary legs among the City team and while they huffed and puffed they didn’t have enough to win today.

Sheffield United’s first goal, early on, could have been defended better but really it was a pot shot that happened to find the net. Their second, coming just as Norwich looked to be close to an equaliser, came through the combination of an ill advised Alex Tettey backpass and the poor decision of Angus Gunn not to charge out of his goal to try and clear. Gunn has been brilliant this season, but from my vantage point in the Barclay I do think this was his error. By choosing to stay on his line he made it too easy for the striker.

I overheard on the way out of the ground that, yet again, it was a defender that had to score Norwich’s goal. While left back Jamal Lewis was the scorer against Chelsea, right back Ivo Pinto gave us hope very soon after Sheffield United’s second – but it wasn’t to be. With James Maddison having an off day (which he is allowed, ignoring the fact he was being kicked all over the place by Sheffield United’s players) it was left to Nelson Oliveira to get a goal from a forward position. Nelson continued to do what he’d done for most of this season, though, and that is spray it all over the place. Norwich need to sign a striker and they need to do it soon. Before the end of January.

When these two teams met at Bramall Lane, the Sheffield United fans could not accept that Norwich had simply done a job on them and they had been beaten by the better side on the day. They, like their manager, were incredibly bitter about City’s so-called ‘antics’. There was nothing unusual about what City did that day. Every team, every single one, will do their best to waste a bit of time when they are protecting a narrow lead away from home. Ironically, this is exactly what Sheffield United did today. They didn’t win the game through beautiful football, they closed it out by wasting time. So despite some of the Blades fans saying they ‘wouldn’t want to support a team that plays like that’, it turns out that they do and are quite happy about it.

It was another irritating home defeat for Norwich but we must not get too down about it. It was clear at Chelsea that there is something building under Daniel Farke and I think it might be next season before we really see the benefit of it. From what I’ve seen today, I can’t see Sheffield United sustaining a promotion push either. Their squad is nothing special and they should be happy with a top half finish. City may have come up short today, but at least you won’t find our manager blaming the opposition’s coach driver for it.