How Chris Wilder believes Sheffield United will cope after being dealt triple blow in promotion race with Leeds United

They say bad things come in threes, but Wilder will have been cursing his luck on Saturday evening.

The Blades were dealt a serious blow in their promotion hopes after conceding a 94th minute leveller to Millwall in a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane.

Leeds opened up a three-point gap over their Yorkshire rivals with a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday later in the day.

Before Jake Cooper's strike defender John Egan was given his marching orders after punching the ball off the line from a Tom Elliott header with the resulting Ben Marshall penalty hitting the crossbar.

Egan is expected to miss Friday's clash with Nottingham Forest following his dismissal but is yet to hear back from the FA over the extent of his ban, according to The Star.

Wilder has also been left worried over utility man Chris Basham and club captain and top goalscorer Billy Sharp after the pair saw their afternoon end prematurely through injury.

The 51-year-old, though, says his side must adapt to the situation while they wait to find out the impact of the issues on two of his key men.

“It’s an instinctive situation where John deals with it, and we have got to get on with it," Wilder said.

“We've lost players before; we missed Jack O’Connell for a few games and Chris Basham for a few games recently and we have got to deal with it.

“It’s an opportunity for someone to step in and we’ll deal with it. John has been excellent, losing Bash wasn’t great and then the skipper (Sharp), too.

“We’ll assess those but in terms of injuries and suspensions, it’s a real disappointment. And the fact we didn’t get a big three points was, too.”