Sheffield United 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Derby defeat confirms relegation

Sheffield Wednesday’s relegation from the Championship was confirmed with a 2-1 loss to 10-man Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Only a win would have kept Wednesday up – at least for three more days – but even after Kalvin Phillips’ red card in the second half, they could not mount a big enough fightback.

It was a nightmare start against their Steel City rivals for Wednesday as a terrible clearance from Joel Ndala went straight to Gustavo Hamer, who teed up Patrick Bamford for a cute finish after just 73 seconds.

Callum O’Hare then crashed a powerful shot against the near post before Harrison Burrows doubled United’s lead in the 19th minute. He started the move before meeting Sydie Peck’s pass to fire past Seny Dieng.

However, in the 49th minute, Wednesday were given a lifeline as Phillips received a straight red card for a high follow-through on Svante Ingelsson.

The visitors took advantage just four minutes later, with Tayo Adaramola squaring it across the box to Charlie McNeill, who bent a lovely low shot into the bottom-right corner.

Wednesday struggled to build any momentum after that, though, and they went down to 10 men themselves in the 90th minute when Gabriel Otegbayo received his second booking for a tactical foul on Tyrese Campbell.

With the numbers evened out, Dieng was twice called into action in stoppage time, thwarting both Campbell and Peck to keep the scoreline down.

A fourth straight derby day victory for the Blades! pic.twitter.com/acLvkM7O5U

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) February 22, 2026

Data Debrief: A sorry day for Wednesday

Due to points deductions, Wednesday’s fate has been clear for some time, but it was their local rivals who delivered the final blow, winning their fourth consecutive league game against the Owls.

And Wednesday became just the second team to lose at least 10 consecutive games in the Championship, after Rotherham United between February and April 2017 (also 10).

As for United, since his debut for them in November, only Zan Vipotnik (10) has more Championship goals than Bamford (eight).

And it was ultimately a deserved win for the Blades, who are now just six points off the play-off places, as they accumulated 1.96 expected goals (xG) from 10 shots to Wednesday’s 0.16 xG from six attempts.