Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest: Blades denied a huge win deep into added time

But something else was at stake at Bramall Lane earlier tonight. Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest knew, as they prepared to go into battle, that the outcome of the game could shape the race for the play-offs too.

Although it finished all square, both sides avoiding the defeat which would have dealt their hopes a real blow, neither Paul Heckingbottom nor Steve Cooper were satisfied with the result.

Having taken the lead through Billy Sharp, the 36-year-old scoring for the 14th time since August, United were seconds away from claiming a memorable victory. But Ryan Yates’ equaliser, in the 95th minute, dragged Forest back on level terms after Brennan Johnson had earlier missed a first-half penalty.

“It’s a kick in the teeth,” Heckingbottom said, despite watching United climb to sixth. “One team comes off feeling they’ve won the FA Cup. The other like it’s been relegated.

"We've got square pegs in round holes, though, and still came away with something."

Contesting their eighth league fixture in the space of only 29 days, injuries are becoming a real issue for United during a critical period of the campaign. Predictably, they lost another key performer ahead of the meeting with Steve Cooper’s side. But George Baldock’s replacement, the teenage Femi Seriki, acquitted himself well on his full debut for the hosts.

Summoned back to South Yorkshire in November following a frustrating spell on loan with their sister club Beerschot, Seriki’s inexperience was evident at times. However, a tireless runner up and down United’s left flank, the 18-year-old justified the faith shown in him by United’s coaching staff. Indeed, he was one of their more assured defenders during a first-half which saw Forest spurn several good chances and miss a penalty kick.

Wes Foderingham had already darted off his line to thwart Philip Zinckernagel and parried clear from Johnson when Rhys Norrington-Davies, enduring one of those evenings he won’t care to remember in a hurry, upended Djed Spence in the box.

Attempting to place his shot straight down the middle, Johnson knew he was in trouble the moment Wes Foderingham refused to commit himself. United’s goalkeeper, who had clearly done his homework on the Wales international, gathered the ball pretty comfortably at the second attempt.

“He’ll be on the next one,” Cooper said, after watching Forest climb to eight. “It was disappointing, yes. I’m never happy with a draw butl, overall, I thought we were excellent.”

A long -range effort from Sander Berge apart, United were ineffective during the opening period. The careless passing and lack of conviction, perhaps a symptom of the fact they had been forced to rotate once again, continued throughout the second. So too, with Billy Sharp cutting an isolated figure in attack, did United’s inability to hold the ball up going forward.

Forest, meanwhile, kept applying pressure. Steve Cook saw a header cannon back off the crossbar after venturing upfield for a corner after Keinan Davis had gone close.

But United’s two most creative players combined to punish their profligacy, with Sharp steering a header into the far corner of Ethan Horvath’s net following Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross.

From that moment on, it was all United. Until Yates pounced, glancing home James Garner’s centre.

Sheffield United: Foderingham, Norrington-Davies, Seriki (Osborn 66), B Davies, Egan, Robinson, Norwood (Jebbison 66), Fleck, Berge, Gibbs-White, Sharp (McBurnie 84). Not used: A Davies, Hourihane, Ndiaye, Gordon.

Nottingham Forest: Horvath, Spence, Worrall, Colback, Davis, Zinckernagel (Mighten 85), Johnson, Yates, McKenna (Surridge 79), Cook, Garner. Not used: Smith, Figueiredo, Dias, Silva.

Referee: Josh Smith (Cambridgeshire).

Attendance: 28,841.