Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder is confident his team will remain in the automatic promotion race until the end of the season, after slipping to a draw at Birmingham City.

With leaders Norwich held to a 2-2 home draw by Reading, after conceding an equaliser deep into injury-time, the Blades missed a chance to close the gap to City to five points.

Instead they remain seven adrift of Norwich and a point behind second placed Leeds, leaving Wilder disappointed with the 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s – but still confident his team will keep pace with the top two.

“There was one team who wanted to go and win it and get the three points,” the Sheffield United chief said. “It’s a tough place to come, as a team found out on Saturday (Leeds losing 1-0).

“You guys will talk about it (the promotion race), the fans will talk about it but I won’t. I’ll just talk about the accumulation of points. I can’t be a roller-coaster myself.

“We have to keep nice and calm, we have some fabulous games ahead. It’s not what we wanted tonight but the players shouldn’t feel down about it. They went for the win in the second half.

“One match doesn’t decide anything, especially at this stage. It’s all about an accumulation of points. This is all about how many people will get over a period of games.

“The one thing we’ve shown, and I’ve told the boys this afterwards, is that we’re going to take it right down to the wire.”

The Blades took the lead through left-back Enda Stevens in the 38th minute but were pegged back before the break by Blues defender Michael Morrison.

Next up is a home clash with Millwall, with the lowly Lions heading to Bramall Lane two points clear of the bottom three – with a game in hand – thanks to an upturn in form, although they were held to a 0-0 home draw by QPR on Wednesday.

United built on a 1-0 win at Preston with their point at Birmingham though, leaving them with just one defeat in 13 matches.

“We’ve had two tough away days,” Wilder added, speaking to the Yorkshire Post.

“We’ve taken four points from those and yes, although we’d have loved six, I think we’ve got to be happy with that overall. I think that’s a good return.”