NIGEL Clough agreed Swindon Town were perhaps unlucky not to get a late spot-kick that could have denied the Blades boss and his side all three points.

With Swindon throwing everything forward in search of an equaliser, United’s 17-year-old midfielder Louis Reed attempted to clear the ball and inadvertently bundled over Jordan Turnbull in the Blades’ box.

Referee David Coote was not interested and Terry Kennedy took advantage to slide in Jamie Murphy to seal the game for Sheffield.

A lot of has been made of the Coote’s performance by the Swindon camp. However he infuriated both sets of fans with the way he managed the game and ended up booking nine players.

Clough proffered that though the decision had gone the wrong way, perhaps Coote had been dissuaded from giving it by what the Blades boss perceived to be a rush to hit the grass on Town’s behalf.

“It looked a fair shout (the penalty), it was difficult to tell if there was that much contact,” Clough told the Advertiser.

“Little Reedy (Louis Reed) sort of tried to clear it I think. It was difficult to tell how much contact there was but there were also a couple of instances where there wasn’t contact and that might have been in the referees’ mind.”

Despite the little time remaining in the game at that point, Clough thought it was important United capitalised so ruthlessly because of the quality the visitors had shown throughout the game.

“It was important to get the second one as well because it’s not always easy to hang on late if you’ve only got a one-goal lead, anything can drop. So it was important to get that second for us and give us that little bit of comfort,” he added.

“I thought Swindon’s performance showed they are a very good team. But for a couple of blocks and good saves they could have easily have a goal or two today.

“I think their chances for promotion are as good as anybody’s. They’ve had a great first half of the season and it’s just a matter of keeping it going now. The way they play, they’re all comfortable on the ball and I think they are up there on merit.

“It was nice to see a side take us on our own game at home, we’ve had the opposite where teams come and sit nine or 10 behind the ball, so we knew Swindon would come and have a go at us and in some ways it suits us a little bit better because then we can break.”