Sheffield United let a two-goal lead slip ultimately sharing the spoils with a 2-2 draw against Queens Park Rangers at Bramall Lane.
A marvellous low driven strike from Gustavo Hamer put the Blades in front inside six minutes. United quickly added a second when Hamer drilled a left-footed ball in from the left side which found Kieffer Moore free at the back post to tap in. QPR began their comeback early in the second half when Jimmy Dunne’s header from a corner at the near post spun into the far corner. With just a minute of normal time to go and the visitors got a deserving equaliser after Lyndon Dykes’ first time right-footed effort found the bottom left corner.
Lineups
Blades: A. Davies, Gilchrist (Souttar 77), Arblaster, Hamer, Moore, O’Hare (Peck 85), Burrows, Ahmedhodzic (Brewster 90), Robinson, Souza (Rak-Sakyi 90), Brooks (Slimane 85)
Unused: Cooper, McCallum, Trusty, Marsh.
QPR: Nardi, Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Dembele (Celar 68), Field, Frey (Dykes 85), Paal, Andersen (Smyth 43), Lloyd (Saito 68), Varane (Colbeck 45).
Unused: Walsh, Morrison, Dixon-Bonner, Santos.
First half
Sheffield United started the game at an incredible pace and it came to no surprise when O’Hare and Hamer linked up to give the home side an early lead inside six minutes. O’Hare, carrying the ball into the box, nudged the ball to his right side which tee’d up Gustavo Hamer to expertly power the ball into the bottom left corner.
Just six minutes later and the Blades doubled their lead without Queens Park Rangers laying a glove on them. O’Hare and Hamer again linked up, and this time O’Hare played a delicate through ball down the left side of the penalty area to the overlapping Hamer, and Hamer picked out Kieffer Moore free at the far post who tapped the ball home into an empty net.
Both Souza and Varane entered the referee’s book shortly before half time as the pace of the game slowed.
Second half
The Blades started the second half looking for more goals and they very nearly had another one when O’Hare appeared to be through on goal but an excellent last ditch challenge from a QPR defender thwarted the chance.
QPR gradually grew into the game and started to control the proceedings, and they rightfully grabbed a goal back early in the second half when Dembele’s corner found Jimmy Dunne at the near post, who escaped Robinson, and Dunne’s header found the far corner.
From that moment it was pretty clear that the momentum of the game had shifted. The Blades were holding onto their lead, just, when Davies got down to deny Celar from a corner and luckily he held onto it with others ready to pounce.
For the visitors Jack Colback was dismissed with two yellow cards after a strange moment, presumably for dissent, as substitutions were at the ready.
Even despite the man advantage, the Blades were struggling to make a dent in QPR, and in typical Championship fashion the side with ten men scored an equaliser in the 89th minute as Saito’s cut back found Lyndon Dykes and the Scottish international placed the ball into the far left corner.
The Blades had a final push to claim all three points with Rak-Sakyi flying down the right wing, but his crosses were either wayward or blocked in the six-yard box.
