Sheffield United 2 Portsmouth 1: Substitutes snatch victory despite disjointed display
Chris Wilder's name was cropping up a lot as the grumbles lingered in the cold Bramall Lane air, and with some justification.
The Blades manager had sent out a changed team that did not look as if they had enjoyed a week's training to get to know one another, and how Portsmouth were not beating them was an absolute mystery.
Nobody could argue the hosts deserved a 2-1 victory which put them back in the Championship's automatic promotion places but they burgled it anyway when one of Wilder's substitutes, Rhian Brewster, crossed for another, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, to tap in.
Do not be fooled by Brewster smashing the crossbar with one of the last kicks of the game, to say the Blades had got out of jail was an understatement. Promotions, though, are as much about days like this as the five-star performances.
When Gustavo Hamer curled his side in front after 24 unconvincing minutes, they might have hoped it would settle them down but Portsmouth quickly equalised before going on to hit the crossbar and miss a second sitter.
Putting Ben Brereton Diaz on the right wing left his full-back, Harry Clarke, exposed one-on-one against Josh Murphy on his full debut, and the Pompey winger had a field day.
Hamza Choudhury's habit of dropping between the centre-backs in search of the ball to often left a hole in midfield without Callum O'Hare dropping in from the hole behind Tyrese Campbell. Another mid-season signing, Tom Cannon was there instead.
It allowed Poirtsmouth far too much freedom.
Pompey were not affected but the Blades' search for rhythm was not helped by two minutes applauses for Harvey Willgoose, although paying respects to the murdered teenager was of course far more important.
The first came when a chant in his honour prompted a spontaneous minute's applause, the second came at the appointed 15th minute. On both occasions referee Oliver Langford allowed play to stop so those on the field, himself included, could join in.
Quickly on the back of the second of them, Portsmouth had their first really good chance, although Michael Cooper had already had to save earlier when Colby Bishop found himself in far too much space at centre-forward when the ball was helped to him.
But the 18th-minute chance was a real corker, even allowing for the fact that Callum Lang was stretching slightly onto a deflected left-wing chance. From so close in clearing the crossbar was harder than finding the empty to net but credit it to him, he managed.
It looked like the hosts might get away with it when Breton Diaz dropped into the hole and released Hamer to come in off the left and curl into the net.
But within minutes Pompey we level, Murphy getting past Clarke and left-back Connor Oglivie popping up in front of the neat post to glance an equaliser in.
Matt Ritchie's curled free-kick was comfortable for Cooper to get across to but the hosts' defence looked uncertain again when he had to react quickly to pick up Lang's touch after Murphy picked him out. The striker was offside but the warning was clear.
Murphy slammed against the crossbar when he picked up the ball in the centre of the midfield doughnut after 38 minutes and Oglivie did a good impression of Lang's miss when Murphy picked him out in the 44th minute.
Murphy had Clarke so much on toast, it was a surprise it took 77 minutes for the on-loan right-back's frustration to boil over into a crude challenge on the winger which got the booking it deserved.
Bishop's goal chalked off for offside after a half-time which brought no changes of personnel or position pointed to more of the same, as did Andre Dozzell shooting over the bar from the edge of the area minutes later and Cooper's two saves from Murphy, as the crowd got understandably restless.
Eventually, far later than many in the stands wanted, Wilder acted with a triple substitution.
Sydie Peck put some jam in the doughnut, Sam McCallum relieved Burrows and Rak-Sakyi came on too, but spent more time in the middle than his normal right, with Hamer often popping up there as Brereton Diaz swapped sides.
It was Hamer who provided the diversion for Clarke to curl a cross just inside the far post, and then whipped over a cross no one got a touch to.
And it was Rak-Sakyi's presence in the middle that allowed him to tap in when Brewster laid on a 73rd-minute cross, having just come on.
Five minutes later Hamer was on the left, playing Tom Cannon clean through. He clipped the crossbar.
Any new striker, especially one with an eight-figure price tag, needs their first goal as soon as possible. Cannon has fired blanks in his first three games.
Wilder was not lulled into a false sense of security by the chance, soon whipping Cannon off for the security of a third central defender, debutant Rob Holding.
His backpass miles away from Cooper in the fifth added minute kept the jitters jittering and Brewster could not settle them when Peck released him second later, but somehow the job got done.
And while the questions about a poor performance cannot be swept under the carpet, for now that is all that matters.
Sheffield United: Cooper; Clarke, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Burrows (McCallum 58); Choudhury (Peck 58), Souza; Brereton Diaz (Brewster 72), Cannon (Holding 82), Hamer; Campbell (Rak-Sakyi 58).
Unused substitutes: Faxon, O'Hare, Norrington-Davies, Brooks.
Portsmouth: Schmid; Swanson, Shaughnessy (Matthews 82), Atkinson, Ogilvie; Potts (Pack 90), Dozzell (Gordon 82); Ritchie (Aouchiche 72), Lang, Murphy; Bishop.
Unused substitutes: Saydee, Bramall, Devlin, Archer, Hayden.
Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).