The PNE boss was left frustrated that his side weren’t able to keep their focus for the full 90 minutes after goals from Mark McNulty and Jamal Campbell-Ryce saw the home side claim the three points.
Hear more about Simon's thoughts on the loss, and how he hopes to respond for the game against Leyton Orient on friday night, watch the full interview here
“We could have dealt with the goals better – for the second we got caught in possession - they broke and got the shot off and even for the first goal we were a bit unfortunate with the deflection, so both goals we could have done something about."
“They went to QPR and pulled off a great result last week so we knew we were always in for a game – there wasn’t a lot in it but we didn’t deal with the period when we came under pressure well at all.
“With them being the home team, and with them being towards the top six they’re going to get periods in the game where they’re going to create.
“In that 15 to 20 minute period [at the start of the second-half] we didn’t deal well enough with the situation,” admitted Grayson after the loss.
After the game, Simon Grayson took to PNE Player to state that his side’s inability to deal with United’s pressure early in the second-half was fundamental in their defeat.
A late strike from Josh Brownhill gave Nigel Clough’s side food for thought, but the home side held on to record a 2-1 win.
And the Blades doubled their lead on 70 minutes with Campbell-Ryce taking advantage of a Sheffield counter attack before the winger slotted the ball past the legs of Thorsten Stuckmann.
After a first-half that saw chances fall few and far between, the home side took the initiative after the break – firstly through McNulty who scrambled a loose ball home seven minutes into the second-half.