John Fleck wasn't happy with the performance of Sheffield United as a whole in such a key game for their season.

The Blades lost 3-2 to Barnsley after going 2-1 ahead in an exciting South Yorkshire derby at Oakwell. Fleck scored the equaliser before Leon Clarke put the Blades ahead, but they were unable to hold on to their lead.

This result leaves them four points outside the play-offs with five games remaining, but the fixture list helps them in this regard because they have Middlesbrough, Millwall, Bristol City and Preston left to play with Birmingham sandwiched inbetween.

Those first four teams are all competing for the play-off spots with three of the teams directly above them in the table, so United still have a significant influence on proceedings.

Here's what Fleck had to say about the game in a post-match interview on Sheffield United's official site: "Saturday was a very frustrating performance and result. In the first-half nobody was up to our usual high standards."

"We just didn't pass the ball with any fluency, we didn't win enough tackles and we didn't win our individual battles."

"We conceded two late goals and ended up losing the game, these late goals are killing us at the moment."

The Verdict

Fleck is right to be frustrated because they only just lost without showing much as a collective. They were beaten comprehensively in terms of team effort by the Tykes, but United's individual quality gave them a route back into the game.

Unfortunately for United, they weren't able to take advantage of that, so they have a much harder task ahead of them. Beating Barnsley would have kept up the pressure on Middlesbrough, but this result hands the advantage to them and Millwall.

They can't afford to have a similar performance when they host Middlesbrough because they will be saying goodbye to their play-off hopes otherwise.