Sheffield United 1 Blackburn Rovers 0: Ben Davies secures dramatic victory for 10-man Blades

The home side had been reduced to 10 men midway through the second half and the visitors then missed a penalty.

It was a dramatic turn of events that will have Unitedites dreaming of promotion.

United applied some early pressure with George Baldock the first to threaten when his low drive was saved by Thomas Kaminski. After Rhys Norrington-Davies had a ‘goal’ ruled out by an offside flag, Billy Sharp wasted a great opportunity to put the hosts in front when he put a far-post header wide from a Sander Berge cross.

Blackburn’s John Buckley fired in a low shot which flashed wide of Wes Foderingham’s right-hand post.

Foderingham was then relieved to see a free-kick from Reda Khadra only just clear the bar.

Berge was causing problems for the visitors down the right-hand side, but the end product was lacking with United failing to force a breakthrough.

Berge produced a driving run and found John Fleck who fired in an effort from around 20 yards which was parried by Kaminski. Morgan Gibbs-White latched onto the rebound and shot straight at the keeper at his near post.

The hosts were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half when Charlie Goode was shown a straight red card following a foul on Khadra.

The visitors were then awarded a penalty after Khadra’s cross was handled by John Egan. It was Khadra who stepped up to take the penalty, but his effort was saved by Foderingham.

It looked to be heading for a draw until McBurnie caused problems for the Blackburn defence from a corner and Jack Robinson headed the ball into the path of Davies who swept home from close range.

Sheffield United: Foderingham, Goode, Egan, Robinson, Baldock, Norwood, Gibbs-White (Ben Davies 88),Norrington Davies, Berge, Fleck, Sharp (McBurnie 78). Unused substitutes: A Davies, Hourihane, Ndiaye, Gordon, Jebbison.

Blackburn Rovers: Kaminski, Lenihan, van Hecke, S Wharton, Nyambe (Dolan 82), Travis, Rothwell, Pickering, Khadra, Buckley, Gallagher. Unused subs: Johnson, Davenport, Rankin-Costello, Pears, Hedges, Giles.

Referee: M Donohue (Lancashire).