Sheffield United 4 Middlesbrough 1

Last night, however, the boot was on the other foot. Wilder was in the opposition dugout at the ground he called home for five seasons, and while the team playing in red-and-white might have been recognisable to him in terms of their energetic, high-pressing approach, his own Middlesbrough side were like lambs to the slaughter as their promotion hopes suffered a serious setback.

For the second successive away game, Boro found themselves three goals behind as their defence creaked and crumbled in the face of some forceful attacking. As had been the case at Barnsley last month, the Teessiders briefly rallied in the second half, pulling a goal back through substitute Folarin Balogun, but Morgan Gibbs-White’s brilliant back-heel flick ensured Sheffield United pulled clear again. As at Oakwell, Boro’s attempted revival was too little, too late.

While Boro’s home form remains superb, they have now picked up just one point from the last available 15 on the road, a failing that could well prove terminal to their play-off ambitions. With matches at Millwall and Birmingham coming up in the next seven days, Wilder must engineer an immediate improvement to his side’s flatlining away form if they are to remain in the promotion mix

Last night’s game was always going to be an emotional occasion for the Boro boss, as he made his first return to Bramall Lane since leaving Sheffield United under a cloud last March.

For all that his relationship with Blades owner Prince Abdullah might have disintegrated in the final few weeks of his reign, Wilder’s five years in charge of his hometown team were still some of the most successful in Sheffield United’s recent history. His impact has not been forgotten amongst the Bramall Lane support, and when his name was announced as he left the tunnel before kick-off, he and his assistant, Alan Knill, acknowledged the applause that rang around the ground. That was to be as good as the evening got for them.

With Anfernee Dijksteel unavailable because of illness, Wilder restored Lee Peltier to a reshuffled backline that also featured a returning Marc Bola at left wing-back. The hope would have been that Boro’s new-look defence stood firm for as long as possible. Instead, as had been the case at Barnsley, the Teessiders crumbled as they conceded two goals in the opening half-hour.

Last night, it was actually two goals in the space of three first-half minutes, with Boro’s sudden propensity for self-inflicted errors once again proving their undoing.

Joe Lumley was at fault for Sheffield United’s first goal, although he was hardly helped by his team-mates’ collective switching off from a throw in. Nevertheless, Lumley’s weak attempt to claw away Billy Sharp’s cross from the left merely succeeding in diverting the ball into the back of an unsuspecting Bola. The wing-back was unable to get out of the way, with the ball consequently dropping at the feet of Sander Berge, who was able to stab home from close range.

That was calamitous enough from a Boro perspective, but worse was to follow two minutes later as Jonny Howson uncharacteristically erred deep in his own half. Howson turned into trouble after receiving possession, enabling an alert Ollie Norwood to nick the ball off him. Norwood fed Gibbs-White, he released Sharp into the right of the area, and the veteran striker stroked home a clinical finish to claim his eighth goal since the turn of the year.

It might have been even worse for Boro had Gibbs-White not rolled a low shot straight at Lumley’s legs after a one-two with Sharp released him behind an alarmingly ramshackle Boro backline, but the visitors did at least manage to make it to the interval only two goals behind.

In truth, they should have been on the scoresheet themselves, but Andraz Sporar wasted a glorious opportunity to pull a goal back on the half-hour mark. Isaiah Jones picked him out after bursting to the byline, but the Slovenian ballooned a wasteful first-time effort high over the crossbar. For all that Sporar might have scored eight goals this season, his chance conversion rate leaves a lot to be desired.

Aaron Connolly had the ball in the net six minutes after the break, but the assistant’s flag had gone up long before the Brighton loanee converted Jones’ low cross.

As has been the case for much of the season, Jones’ lung-bursting runs down the right were Boro’s best attacking outlet, although the Sheffield United defence made a decent job of dealing with the wing-back’s crosses.

Boro’s backline continued to creak whenever the Blades adopted a route-one approach to feeding the ball into the penalty area, and an unmarked John Egan wasted a decent opportunity nine minutes into the second half when he headed over at the back post from a corner.

Five minutes later, however, and Egan was helping to set up his side’s third goal. The centre-half beat Dael Fry to a header as he nodded a corner back across goal, and Jack Robinson swivelled neatly before firing home a volley.

Wilder responded by bringing on Duncan Watmore and Balogun, and the latter grabbed a goal from nowhere after just three minutes of being on the field. Blades goalkeeper Wes Foderingham slipped as he was attempting to kick clear from inside his own 18-yard box, enabling Balogun to pick up possession and roll into an empty net.

Sheffield United continued to pour forward though, and Gibbs-White added a fourth when he converted Ben Osborn’s cross.