Sheffield United boss hoping Oli McBurnie has turned corner after dramatic step reaps rewards v West Ham

Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager, hopes that striker Oli McBurnie has turned a corner with his troubling groin injury after jetting off to the Middle East to see a specialist during the winter break. The striker only returned to England on Thursday and trained on Friday, before scoring a dramatic 103rd-minute equaliser for the Blades from the penalty spot against West Ham on Sunday evening.

McBurnie's opportunities have been limited this season by a combination of injury and suspension, having been sent off twice before Christmas, but he showed real bottle to step up and earn the Blades a deserved point against the Hammers after being clattered by visiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. "He tells me he was in Qatar rehabbing," said Wilder of McBurnie's own winter break.

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"I hope he was! We've got some private security on him! He's been away for four or five days to see a specialist and he flew back on Thursday, and trained on Friday. He looks and feels different to before he went on the plane so hopefully we might have cured a situation there."

If Wilder's hunch proves to be correct then it will be a real boost to United's hopes of surviving in the top flight after McBurnie's fourth goal of the campaign, edging him closer to the record of Premier League goals for the Blades. He will also jump ahead of Rhian Brewster in the striker pecking order for the forseeable future after the striker's straight red card against West Ham, for a wild lunge on Emerson Palmieri.

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"I'm delighted my team stayed in the game because with five minutes to go, when they're rolling the ball around, it could quite easily have gone from two to 3-1 down," added Wilder. "We put some fabulous blocks in there and recovery runs to give us the opportunity at the end.

"The attitude of the team to stay in the game, put the ball in the box to ask the question ... then the goalkeeper makes a rash decision to come through and we get the penalty. I'm delighted we got something from the game. That was the overriding emotion for me because I believed we deserved to.

"We controlled the game first half with finding that killer bit of magic at the top of the pitch and second half we missed a good chance to go up. My criticism is that we didn't find that little bit of magic. Overall we've had a decent afternoon. We've not got the three points we wanted, but we've got a point from a team sixth in the division."