THREE key players will undergo fitness checks tomorrow morning before Sam Allardyce musters his troops for a full-blooded Roses battle with Neil Warnock's Sheffield United.

Anthony Barness, Gareth Farrelly and Dean Holdsworth will all come under the closest scrutiny as Wanderers look to carry on where they left off at Norwich last Saturday when they extended their unbeaten run to five games.

But Allardyce warned today that the Blades' combative, high-tempo style and memories of last season's X-rated Reebok clash will make this an altogether different challenge.

Wanderers, who lost Paul Warhurst with a badly-gashed calf and Dean Holden with a broken leg, claimed Warnock was over the top with his comments after the game in March when he accused Franck Passi of sparking a succession of bad-tempered fouls.

"There were two teams out there trying to kill each other," the Blades boss said, "and Dean Holdsworth was the worst offender."

Allardyce refused to shake his hand and was in no mood to celebrate, despite Wanderers winning the game 2-0 to complete the 'double' over their Yorkshire rivals and maintain their push for a play-off place.

But the manager says he doesn't bear grudges. "I'm not that kind of man," he explained. "I was very, very upset at the time. I think the way Neil wound the players up to play against us wasn't the right way. But that's Neil, that's how he goes about his job and he's been successful.

"I've spoken to him since and we're all right; we've had a laugh. What we've got to do tomorrow is make sure we don't react, stand up to them and play our own game."

Ian Marshall has recovered from a groin injury, which kept him out of the Norwich game, but Wanderers are sweating on Holdsworth (calf), Barness (knee) and Farrelly (hamstring).