It is safe to say that last night’s Steel City derby far from lived up to the pre-match hype with Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday playing out a bore 0-0 draw.

Going into the match, it looked like a huge match for both sides. A win for United would have seen them climb back into the top-two whilst Wednesday continued to hunt down a surprise play-off spot.

But in a match that crying out for the likes of Adam Reach, Barry Bannan, Billy Sharp or Mark Duffy to produce a moment of magic, it did not happen.

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It was a result that piled the pressure on Chris Wilder’s side, now sat two points adrift in the race for promotion and despite the Owls’ recent good form, it is one that they will surely regret.

And in a match where they really could have done with a bit of Sharp magic, it was not forthcoming.

Having scored 22 goals already this season, it was not unreasonable to hope for another one or two at Hillsborough last night.

But what we got instead was a worryingly lacklustre display from the marksman.

Sharp did not have a single shot all night. It could point to a perfected defensive display from Wednesday, but at the same time it is certainly a worry for the Blades.

If marking the veteran striker out of the action is all it takes for teams to nullify the Blades’ threat then it could lead to a very disappointing final few months.

That is not to pin the poor result solely on his shoulders, however.

Committing six fouls shows that it was not down to a lack of effort on his part but it shows that when Sharp does not step up they have few other players to get them out of jail.