Sheffield United 2 QPR 2: A tale of two halves as Blades throw it away after a dream first period in a crazy Championship affair

Boasting a 2-0 lead at the interval and looking the business, it really should have, but the Championship’s capacity to surprise in the most incomprehensible fashion surfaced for the umpteenth time.

Rangers, who played out the final 15 minutes of the game, incorporating stoppage time, with a man light, grabbed a late equaliser to crown an excellent second period.

That’s the Championship. And the Blades’ maiden second-tier success of this year was never going to be easy, was it..

It proved a riotous game of two halves, as the saying goes.

United - and more especially reunited duo Gus Hamer and Callum O’Hare - were irresistible in the first half and were at the heart of all things good.

Goals in the opening quarter of an hour were registered by Hamer - following on from his strike at Deepdale - and Kieffer Moore, one of four players making their first home start alongside Alfie Gilchrist, Harrison Burrows and O’Hare.

There was a brightness and verve to United - whose squad included eight new arrivals with Michael Cooper and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi on the bench. Maybe it was too easy and they got lulled into a false sense of security, which might explain their inexplicable second-half drop off.

Jimmy Dunne’s header pulled one back early and the narrative changed.

Even a daft second caution on 83 minutes couldn’t deny Rangers, as outstanding on the restart as they were poor in the opening half.

Despite being down to ten men, they weren’t put off with replacement Lyndon Dykes firing them level just three minutes after entering the fray.

The fun for the hosts amid a helter-skelter afternoon began nice and early, six minutes in to be precise.

It was the first act among two moments of quality incision in the opening 13 minutes which provided the hosts with a dual advantage.

O’Hare and Hamer - as they invariably did for Coventry - announced themselves in the way they can.

It was instinctive as Hamer found his mate expertly on the left-hand side and then surged forward, knowing what to expect.

O’Hare’s cutback was only destined for one man - Hamer - and his cool drilled low finish soon nestled in the net as they reprised their excellence in the Midlands at a quickfire juncture and whet the appetite considerably.

For O’Hare, it was especially sweet and a ghost was laid in the process. Seven minutes into his previous appearance at Bramall Lane, he was stretchered off with a serious injury while in the colours of Coventry on Boxing Day 2022.

The class duo provided an encore.

It was soon 2-0, with O’Hare and Hamer again showing their telepathy to cut open QPR down their left again with the latter’s low cross tucked away at the far post by Kieffer Moore, a lovely tap-in to endear himself to the Blades faithful.

You feared for QPR and while no further goals arrived, you sensed the Blades knew they had their number.

At the other end, Adam Davies was protected well, while QPR’s defence and midfield looked pretty wary of United’s prowess, displayed not just in O’Hare and Hamer, but also the likes of Ollie Arblaster, Vini Souza and Andre Brooks with the hosts’ balance looking excellent.

Late on in the half, Arblaster found Moore with a probing pass, with harassed R’s captain Steve Cook forced to make an important late block.

Rangers have little to offer in truth, aside from the odd flash of trickery from debutant Karamoko Dembele, while losing Lucas Andersen to injury ahead of the break.

In a bid to wrestle back a bit of control. R’s boss Martí Cifuentes made a tactical change at the interval, with the experienced Colback coming on for Jonathan Varane - on a booking - in the engine room.

The visitors started the better on the resumption and United’s low-key start was punished on 55 minutes.

It was sloppy from a defensive perspective with the hosts switching off from Dembele’s corner and Dunne beating Davies with a glancing header.

Suddenly, we had a game after all and for United, it was all about waking up and getting back on message with QPR’s response - after some stirring words and tactical readjustments from Cifuentes - being pretty decent.

The hosts demonstrably toiled in their efforts to and needed a settler as anxiety started to creep up among Unitedites who had enjoyed themselves in the first period.

Chris Wilder resisted the urge to make changes, while Cifuentes made another couple, attacking ones.

Davies’ first bit of work proved important as Rangers pressed and he grasped Scott Field's slightly deflected goalbound low shot after a corner wasn't cleared.

In the event, Wilder’s first change told the story of the half with Harry Souttar coming onto add some defensive ballast.

Rangers still pushed with Michael Frey seeing a header deflected over, but then the game took another twist when Colback received his marching orders for showing a bit too much lip towards referee Anthony Backhouse and getting a silly second yellow card.

Hamer went close to sealing it from a tight angle for United, but the twist came at the other end, when Dykes slotted home tidily following good work by fellow replacement Koki Saiko.

Wilder made late changes with Rak-Sakyi and Rhian Brewster coming on. There was enough time for a winner amid eight minutes of stoppage time. None was forthcoming from those in red and white.

Sheffield United: Davies; Gilchrist (Souttar 77), Ahmedhodzic (Brewster 91), Robinson, Burrows; Arblaster, Souza (Rak-Sakyi 91); Brooks (Slimane 85), O’Hare (Peck 85), Hamer; Moore. Substitutes unused: Cooper, McCallum, Trusty, Marsh.

QPR: Nardi; Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Paal; Varane (Colback 46), Dembele (Celar 68), Andersen (Smyth 43), Field, Lloyd (Saito 67); Frey (Dykes 85). Substitutes unused: Walsh, Morrison, Dixon-Bonner, Santos.

Referee: A Backhouse (Cumbria).

Attendance: 27,527.