Sheffield United 1 Crewe 2: Lowe moment for Blades despite Clarke's opener

For the much-travelled striker, this meant another goal in Cup competition with the early strike that put the Blades ahead being his tenth in 16 appearances of knockout football since the start of the 2013-14 season.

For his new club, however, last night brought only a familiar first round exit – the fifth time in the past eight seasons that United have crashed out of what is now known as the EFL Cup at this stage.

Even allowing for the thrilling run to the semi-finals under Nigel Clough in 2015, this is a lamentable record.

Adding to the dejection felt by the locals in a crowd of 8,305 was that not only was the damage largely self-inflicted but the man who fired Crewe Alexandra into tonight’s second round draw was a former Sheffield Wednesday striker.

After coming off the bench as the tie moved into the final quarter, Ryan Lowe, at 37 years young, produced two clinical finishes to ensure Chris Wilder’s first home game as Blades manager ended in defeat.

Predictably, the boos rained down at the final whistle as supporters who had to sit through eight home league defeats last season were again made to suffer.

What only added to the sense of frustration around Bramall Lane was the knowledge that the tie really should have been over long before Lowe’s dramatic leveller in the final minute of normal time.

After going ahead inside six minutes through Clarke, United created a host of chances but lacked the necessary killer instinct to take advantage.

Goalkeeper Ben Garratt did deserve credit for keeping the hosts out with a couple of brave saves.

But, there could be no denying that wasteful finishing from the Blades – as perhaps best epitomised shortly before Lowe’s leveller by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who shot wide when unmarked and with just the goalkeeper to beat – was what proved their undoing.

Calvert-Lewin’s spurned opportunity followed several other misses.

After succeeding Nigel Adkins earlier in the summer, Wilder has made clear his desire to restore the traditions he associates with a club he has supported since boyhood.

Honesty and desire are just two of the qualities that he has promised to bring back to the Lane.

Wilder got both, if not the quality he also demands, against Crewe on a night when he also bucked the modern trend of rotating his squad for Cup ties by naming an unchanged starting XI – something unheard of, even at this early stage of the season.

By sticking with the same players who had lost at Bolton Wanderers on the opening day, the United chief was clearly looking for some positive signs that his new charges are starting to gel.

In a first half dominated by the home side, Wilder got the encouragement he had been wanting.

Clarke opened the scoring in the sixth minute, by which time the summer signing from Bury had already missed one gilt-edged opportunity and managed to get in the way of a goal-bound header from Billy Sharp.

He made amends with a cool volleyed finish after being picked out by a left wing cross from Duffy.

The much-travelled striker twice came close to adding a second before the internal. First, he darted behind a static defence before drilling a shot across Garratt from a tight angle that missed the post by an inch or so.

Then, after George Ray had inadvertently diverted the ball into Clarke’s path, the striker could only prod wide as Garratt raced from his line.

Sharp was unfortunate to see his own shot fizz just wide on the hour but there was no mistaking how much more Crewe came into the game after the break.

George Cooper, Alexandra’s standout performer, was hacked down by Jack O’Connell but the resulting free-kick was blocked as the pressure mounted on the home goal before Ben Nugent headed agonisingly wide from a corner.

United still had chances to kill off the visitors but Clarke was denied a second goal by a linesman’s flag and then Calvert-Lewin made a total hash of his late chance.

That meant when Lowe fired in after United failed to clear a corner that extra-time beckoned. Lowe then again took advantage of some woeful defending on 100 minutes to put Crewe ahead.

United refused to give up and twice came close to sending the tie to penalties as thunderbolt strikes from John Fleck and Duffy crashed against the crossbar and to safety.

Sheffield United: Long; Brayford, Wilson, O’Connell, Hussey; Duffy, Basham, Fleck, Done (Scougall 76); Sharp (McNulty 69), Clarke (Calvert-Lewin 82). Unused substitutes: Ramsdale, Wright, Coutts, Freeman.

Crewe Alexandra: Garratt; Turton, Ray, Nugent, Bakayogo; Jones, Bingham (Ng 46), Cooper, Kirk (Kiwomya 58); Dagnall, Saunders (Lowe 68). Unused substitutes: Guthrie, Davis, Richards, Udoh.

Referee: J Adock (Nottinghamshire).