The Bluebirds' winner came on the half hour through Paul Parry after a clever reverse pass from the impressive Peter Whittingham and they hung on for all three points.

However, the Blades should have been ahead long before that but former England striker James Beattie missed a couple of glorious chances.

The first came straight from the opening whistle when Beattie blasted over from close range.

He then missed with a header from Keith Gillespie's corner after Parry had failed to clear.

"I thought we started well, but we missed a few chances and James Beattie should have put us in front in our first attack" said Robson. "You cannot afford to miss chances like that at this level. Once Cardiff went ahead they defended very well to keep us out and our performance particularly in the second half became very scrappy.

"We have put teams under pressure in the past after going behind, but Cardiff were excellent in defence and they have some very good players".

United were dealt a blow in the 58th minute when their captain Chris Morgan limped off to be replaced by one-time Cardiff target Chris Lucketti.

Close to the end the visitors were awarded a free-kick just outside the area after Michael Tonge was upended, but Phil Bardsley's rasping drive flew past the right-hand post.

Cardiff City: Schmeichel, McNaughton, Loovens, Johnson, Capaldi, McPhail, Ledley, Whittingham (Purse 90), Rae, Parry, Hasselbaink (MacLean 80). Unused substitutes: Oakes, Blake, Ramsey.

Sheffield United: Kenny, Bardsley, Kilgallon, Morgan (Lucketti 58), Naysmith, Carney (Hendrie 60), Montgomery, Tonge, Gillespie, Sharp (Hulse 60), Beattie. Unused substitutes: Stead, Armstrong.

Referee: K Stroud (Hampshire).