Sheffield United 2 Oldham Athletic 3: Former Owl Kuqi sticks knife into Blades with late penalty winner

Kuqi’s stoppage-time penalty enabled Oldham to gain revenge for an opening day defeat against Danny Wilson’s men.

The Blades, who ended the game with nine men, seemed to be cruising to victory after Matthew Lowton and Ched Evans gave them a nice cushion but they threw it all away in the second half.

Lowton was sent off for his second yellow card after Richard Cresswell scored an own goal to give Oldham a lifeline, and the visitors went on to win the match thanks to goals from Kieran Lee and Kuqi, who scored from the spot after Harry Maguire saw red for fouling Reuben Reid.

The Blades had won their eight previous home league matches but missed the chance to move seven points clear of the play-offs and are now four points ahead of the Owls, who have played a game more, and five clear of Huddersfield.

Manager Wilson said: “I am massively disappointed in the manner of the defeat but I think, overall, we can only blame ourselves.

“We’re not looking for any scapegoat from certain people in the middle in black, which we possibly could do – we have an argument in one or two cases – we have to look at ourselves.

“We got to 2-0 up, played some decent football and opened them up on numerous occasions but couldn’t finish the game off. We’ve got to do better.”

An eventful afternoon for Blades right-back Lowton began with him forcing an early save from Alex Cisak before opening the scoring on 22 minutes, sweeping the ball home after Evans had cut the ball back.

Striker Evans struck seven minutes before the break when James Tarkowski lost possession, allowing the Welsh international to drive into the area and score his 22nd goal of the season.

Evans also struck a post from 20 yards and Kuqi was denied by Steve Simonsen before the break.

Latics made it 2-1 on 64 minutes when Cresswell headed into his net after a corner by Filipe Morais – Lowton and Chris Taylor being booked in the process.

Lowton then clattered Tarkowski and was sent off and soon after Lee curled the ball past Simonsen from 15 yards.

Evans again tested Cisak and Reid headed wide before Maguire was sent off for a professional foul on the Oldham player and Kuqi scored from the spot to win it.

Keanu Marsh-Brown also struck a post as Oldham almost made it 4-2.

Sheffield United: Simonsen, Lowton, Maguire, Jean-Francois (Ertl 35), Taylor (Hoskins 86), Flynn, Doyle, Williamson, Quinn (Beattie 89), Cresswell, Evans. Unused substitutes: Howard, Porter.

Oldham Athletic: Cisak, Lee, Mvoto, Tarkowski, Mellor, Adeyemi, Brown, Winchester (Marsh-Brown 46), Morais (Reid 73), Taylor, Kuqi. Unused substitutes: Bouzanis, Diamond, Smith.

Referee: J Moss (W Yorkshire).

Man of the match: Ched Evans.