Sheffield United and Plymouth players brawl in tunnel after Chris Wilder loses his cool

and players clashed in the tunnel in the aftermath of their Championship showdown at Home Park on Saturday. The skirmish came after United boss Chris Wilder had confronted two Plymouth stars next to the pitch after the final whistle had blown.

Promotion-chasing Sheffield United went into the encounter as the favourites against the Championship's bottom side and nudged ahead just before the break courtesy of a strike from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi. But the home side drew level in the 81st minute as Ryan Hardie popped up with his ninth league goal of the campaign. And Plymouth secured all three points after Muhamed Tijani grabbed a winner with two minutes remaining.

Tensions boiled over after the match, with the home side accused of over-celebrating in front of the Sheffield United fans. And Wilder displayed his chagrin as he approached Mustapha Bundu and Darko Gyabi.

The former Premier League manager appeared to be furious as he questioned Bundu. And the Plymouth striker refused to back down as he offered his response.

A host of players then clashed as they made their way down the tunnel, with stewards forced to intervene.

"That's not good scenes as they go down into that tunnel area," former United midfielder Michael Brown told Sky Sports. "That's often where the players maybe feel there is a bit of protection, a bit of privacy. It gets heated."

Wilder, who recently in the future, was asked to explain the incident during his post-match interview with the broadcaster. And he said: "Absolutely nothing [happened] really. They're celebrating a big win and they're coming off and unfortunately our supporters are in the stand right next to the tunnel.

"I spoke to their manager - he's good as gold - and he understands the situation just as much as I do and the referee and the assessor.

"Emotions run high in a game of football, which I've always said. Emotions run high, especially for their boys as well because it's a huge win for them. I'm sure if we had won today that would have made it double difficult for them to stay in the division.

"They've given themselves a fighting chance of staying in the division and we've given up another massive opportunity to get in touch and close the gap to Leeds United and Burnley."

The result left the Blades third in the Championship table, five points adrift of leaders Leeds and second-place Burnley.

Plymouth, meanwhile, remained bottom but were only three points away from safety ahead of the 3pm matches.