Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder hailed match-winner Leon Clarke's spirit after his second-half strike sealed the points in a five-goal thriller at Brentford.

The veteran striker insisted on travelling with the squad to Griffin Park after pulling up in training and Wilder was quick to praise his contribution.

Clarke's goal settled a topsy-turvy game in which Neal Maupay gave Brentford an early lead and United hit back through Ezri Konsa's own goal and Oliver Norwood's strike only for John Fleck's own goal to level the score.

"He wanted to travel and give it a go so he started on bench and I was delighted for him scoring," he said.

"That sends a good message to the squad that a player who wasn't quite there wanted to travel. We had a few angry words over the weekend and I steamed into them and tonight you've seen a proper Sheffield United performance."

But Wilder felt the margin of the win should have been greater and said: "There weren't really any nerves and our keeper hasn't had an unbelievable amount to save and couldn't do much about the two deflections for their goals.

"Realistically we had to weather little bits and pieces but we were really disciplined without the ball. We hit the bar, missed a couple of chances and could have been a little bit tidier to make it that bit easier."

Wilder was delighted at how his players responded after the 2-2 derby draw at Rotherham and added: "It's been a tough two or three days for the players and we asked questions of them – I didn't really enjoy it on Saturday and I wanted to see what they produced tonight, so I was delighted with that response.

"You have to fight and earn the right in this division and it was about showing a character performance with ability thrown in, and I believe we deserved to win a really tight game."

Brentford boss Thomas Frank, whose side have now lost six in seven, said his young side "need to learn and learn quick" to stem the tide of defeats.

His two promising centre-backs, Chris Mepham and Konsa, looked at sea against the Blades' experienced strikeforce and Frank said: "They will both be excellent Premier League players but right now they are making mistakes and they need to learn damn quick.

"If you'd said to me when I took the job that after seven games we'd lose six I would have said 'no way, not with these players, not at this club', but that is the status and the only way we will get out of it is to work hard to improve and get better."

Frank's side have lost all of their games by a single goal and Frank said: "We work so hard to score and every time we score, the opponents score and that is difficult to take. Sometimes we need to dig in for the draw and then look to get another goal, but at the moment It's a case of tipping the fine margins in our favour."

But he added: "There is only one way to get out of this and that is by staying together."