Oliver Norwood’s penalty with the last kick of the game finally gave Sheffield United their first win of the Premier League season as they beat Wolves 2-1 at Bramall Lane.
The skipper smashed home from 12 yards after Fabio Silva fouled George Baldock in the seventh minute of time added on as the Blades broke their duck at the 11th attempt.
It had looked like they would have to settle for a point as Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s 89th-minute strike had cancelled out Cameron Archer’s impressive opener.
But this was just the tonic Paul Heckingbottom needed after a harrowing start to the campaign on their return to the top tier and they are now just two points off safety after Burnley and Bournemouth lost again.
There was more penalty woe for Wolves, following on from last week’s controversy against Newcastle, but their five-match unbeaten streak came to an end.
The sodden conditions made for a chaotic opening, where Wolves looked the most likely as they regularly found space down their right-hand side.
Matheus Cunha burst forward in the opening five minutes but his dangerous cross avoided everyone while Nelson Semedo blasted over after he made headway.
Hee-Chan Hwang looked dangerous and forced Wes Foderingham into a flying save before the South Korean was involved in the best opening of the first half in the 32nd minute.
He wriggled clear in the box and looked primed to score but skewed his shot straight into the path of Rayan Ait-Nouri, who could not turn the ball goalwards.
Sheffield United improved immeasurably after the break and boxed Wolves in for the first 20 minutes.
Archer sent an effort just over from 20 yards while James McAtee failed to work Jose Sa from a free-kick in a dangerous area.
Just as it looked as if Wolves had weathered the storm, the Blades went ahead in the 72nd minute with a moment of quality.
There was some fortune in how it came about as a clearance from Cunha hit McAtee and sent Archer clear but from then on it was all about the former Aston Villa striker.
As it looked like he might be caught by the chasing Wolves defenders, Archer unleased a 25-yard shot that arrowed in off the underside of the crossbar.
But the Blades appeared to suffer more disappointment in the 89th minute when Bellegarde’s effort deflected off Baldock and over Foderingham, who got a hand to it.
There was late drama as Silva went through the back of Baldock deep into time added on and after the decision by referee Rob Jones survived a vigorous VAR check, Norwood smashed the spot-kick in off the crossbar to send Bramall Lane into raptures.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here