'I won't blame the referee': Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom tries to make sense of Blackpool chaos

The man in the middle had a calamitous display at Bramall Lane, dishing out four red cards after totally losing control of proceedings.

Marvin Ekpiteta and Dom Thompson were both sent off during the game while both sides had a player dismissed after the final whistle - goalkeeper Wes Foderingham for the Blades and Shayne Lavery for the Seasiders.

The nine men of Blackpool looked to be holding on for a stunning 3-2 win against the league leaders, but Oliver Norwood broke their hearts deep into the eight minutes of stoppage time.

“It was chaotic,” Heckingbottom told Sheffield United’s official website.

“We obviously wanted a lot more control from that game but we showed good spirit at 3-2. When they scored their third we needed to respond and we did and that’s probably the best moment of the game for us because we looked like the team we want to be.

“We went 2-0 up with two really good goals but we were still sloppy with the ball and we get punished for some errors at the back.

“The third goal from our point of view is a poor goal to concede, although it’s fortunate the way it’s fallen for them. But after that the response was good.

“I’m delighted we’ve got the draw but we did more than enough to win, but we can’t be sitting here claiming that because we’ve been wasteful.

“Obviously more space opened up when their two lads got sent off and I thought we were going to go on and do it, I really did.

“But the problem was we were wasteful and we can’t blame the referee for the bits he missed, because we were wasteful.

“We had one penalty we missed but we certainly could have had another when Callum Connolly makes a fantastic save with his arm when it’s going in.

“However, the first one we were appealing, I’d need to see it again to see if there was contact. James McAtee is claiming there was contact.

“We can debate the referee’s decisions. We could and should have had more, of course we should, but we also did more than enough. We had some big moments and Chris Maxwell made some good saves for them, so I won’t stand here and blame the referee.”