SHEFFIELD United manager Kevin Blackwell had warned Huddersfield Town would provide formidable opposition but even he will have been surprised at the laborious manner with which his players progressed into the Carling Cup third round.
United were indebted to late goals from Darius Henderson and Kyle Naughton for enabling them to accomplish the first part of their mission after Michael Flynn's opener appeared to have booked the hosts a place in Saturday's draw.
But they failed to accomplish their second objective – providing coaching staff with a selection headache – ahead of this weekend's visit of Cardiff City in the league.
Blackwell replied with a terse "no" when asked whether any of those making a rare appearance in a first team jersey had presented compelling cases for inclusion.
But he will take encouragement from the fact that winning ugly is an art in itself and a necessary one to master if United are to fulfil their undoubted potential over the coming months.
"Ultimately it's the result which matters most," a relieved Blackwell admitted afterwards."A win is a win is a win.
"Huddersfield will quite rightly take the plaudits but we'll take the result.
"I told the lads that, even though we swapped things about a little bit, if we lost then it's because we weren't good enough.
"You try to warn players that if you go out there psychologically and think that you're a bigger club with better players then it won't happen.
"But there are a lot of big clubs gone out already and most of them would like to be in our position.
"We've won four in a row now and that's the most important thing."
Flynn said: "Our mistake was not to get the second goal when we were on top.
"And if you do that against a club as good as Sheffield United then you're going to get punished."
Despite including the competition among his list of priorities this season, Blackwell nonetheless made seven changes to his starting 11 with Derek Geary and Chris Morgan among those drafted in.
With the United manager's Championship picks apparently set in stone, the match represented a valuable opportunity for those on the periphery of his squad to try and break the mould.
Having resisted the temptation to rest the likes of Henderson, Sun Jihai and Michael Tonge, Blackwell fulfilled his side of the bargain.
But the gamble failed to pay off until the dying moments after Stan Ternent's side seized the initiave in emphatic fashion.
Indeed United, a talented but disparate collection of individuals, were fortunate not to be facing an even greater deficit when they trudged wearily down the tunnel at the interval.
Huddersfield, no doubt spurred into action by Ternent's withering assessment of their form so far this term, served notice of their intentions as early as the fifth minute when Gary Roberts, who later drew a fine save from Ian Bennett immediately after half-time, struck the foot of a post with a downward header.
David Carney, making his first appearance since returning from international duty with Australia, created United's best opening 25 minutes later when he dragged a low shot wide of the post following good work by the industrious Michael Tonge.
But the midfielder's effort proved a rare period of respite for Blackwell's men with former Blade Luke Beckett and Nathan Clarke both going close before United's resistance finally crumbled on the 35 minute mark.
A free-kick, conceded by Sun for a foul on ex-Blade Danny Cadamarteri, was taken quickly by Roberts and although there was an element of fortune in Flynn's finish – the ball finding its way into the back of the net via Matthew Spring – not even the most partisan member of the away support would have begrudged Huddersfield their lead.
"I don't think we were sharp enough on the second ball," Blackwell said. "We didn't get to grips with the conditions here."
Blackwell's response was to withdraw Jon Stead and unleash Danny Webber but the change, designed to inject pace and invention into a mis-firing attack, did not have the desired effect as Huddersfield continued to lay siege to Bennett's penalty area.
Clarke flashed a header wide as the hosts continued to press with purpose and when United did make inroads into opposition territory, Matthew Kilgallon chose the wrong option, firing high and wide instead of passing to a posse of expectant team mates in the box.
Then, the improbable comeback.
First Henderson pounced on Webber's through ball, timing his run perfectly before opening his United account.
Then, as extra-time approached, substitute Naughton followed suit with a deflected strike.
Desperately harsh on Huddersfield and a valuable lesson for United.
Manager's view:I've played here before and I know what the pitch is like. If you let the ball bounce then it won't come down for an age and we never really got to grips with that. It doesn't surprise me that Huddersfield gave us such a strong test because they're a good team. Things haven't gone as they would like so far in the league but I know Stan we and knew that he'd get them fired up.
Teams in their position often to well in the cups because it's a break from the pressure in the league. Huddersfield will take the plaudits but we'll take the result.
What do you think? Add your comment below.READ MORE Football headlinesMore BladesMore OwlsMore SpireitesMore RoversMore RedsMore MillersMore Ice HockeyMore rugby leagueMore rugby unionMore boxingSports columnistsAll sport categoriesThe full article contains 936 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
