SHEFFIELD UTD 1, Wanderers 2. THEY aim to do it with flair and panache but Wanderers have shown they are also equipped to battle their way back to the Premiership, if they have to. Contests won't come much tougher than at Bramall Lane, where the conditions and the opposition conspired to give Colin Todd's Style Council a real run for their money.

That they emerged with three points was down to spirit as much as skill, character as much as class . . . and a team selection that couldn't have been more justified.

Dean Holdsworth was preferred to Arnar Gunnlaugsson, not as a consequence of the top scorer handing in his transfer request five days earlier but because the manager believed his record signing was the best man for this particular job.

The horses-for-courses principle paid off handsomely with Holdsworth making the most of his recall with two typical opportunist goals and turning in one of his most effective performances yet in a Bolton shirt. "Arnar Gunnlaugsson's transfer request had no bearing on my decision," Todd repeated, unnecessarily in the light of the evidence of the previous 90 minutes.

"I just felt that coming here it was going to be a physical game."

No disrespect to the Icelander but, even at his best, this would not have been a day for pace and fancy footwork. This was good old-fashioned winter fayre on a heavy pitch - "the worst in Division One" according to home boss Steve Bruce - against uncompromising opponents. And Holdsworth revelled in it.

Not quite as much, it seemed, as the enthusiastic radio interviewer who asked him: "Was this one of the most incredible games you've ever been involved in?"

After all, when you've spent six years of your career with the Wimbledon Crazy Gang it's really going some to describe any experience as 'incredible' - even when it includes a head-to-head with his twin brother, David.

Eventful, yes; exciting, maybe; rewarding, certainly! Too polite to contradict his questioner, Deano settled for a diplomatic answer as he put things into more realistic perspective. "I've been involved in quite a few but it was certainly full of incident," he replied kindly, "and a good one for you lot to commentate on. It was a good battle and we're really pleased we've come away with a win."

Pleased! Wanderers were absolutely delighted. They had to come from behind, equalised in the third minute of overtime at the end of a first half that could have seen them trailing by three, go away with a debateable disallowed 'goal' and had the outstanding Jussi Jaaskelainen to thank for a penalty save that turned the game just when Bruce's Blades thought they had it made.

It could have gone either way and United can be forgiven for thinking they didn't deserve to lose after turning in one of their best performances of the season.

Wanderers were certainly not at their stylish best but they showed purpose and determination, recovered well after a dodgy first half and extended their unbeaten run to 11 games knowing this was a job exceedingly well done.

"Against Palace last Sunday we could play football," Todd said, drawing an appropriate comparison. "This time we had to battle to grind out a result. We dug deep and people have seen the other side of our character. "The one thing they did better than us in the first half was the aggression side of the game. We couldn't get our passing going.

"But we looked more like ourselves in the second half when we had to do more in terms of matching them for effort. People have said we don't have any resolve or resilience but we've shown we have."

The Blades cut up rough, complaining bitterly that referee Alan Butler should have blown for half-time long before Holdsworth got up at the back post to head home the third successive Scott Sellars' corner after a decisive and deliberate deflection off Mark Fish's head.

They couldn't see why they had a goal disallowed when David Holdsworth thought he'd put them ahead again in the 54th minute after Jaaskelainen had made a vital stop from Andy Campbell and Bruce felt Paul Warhurst should have been sent off when, having already been booked for a first half foul, he sent Marcelo sprawling for the penalty a minute later!

That Wayne Quinn failed from the spot-kick - his hard driven shot being blocked then smothered by the mighty Finn - leaving the Blades to reflect on five successive penalty misses, clearly rattled the Sheffield boss. But, in Warhurst's defence, he didn't deny Marcelo a goalscoring opportunity and his tackle, although a foul, was badly timed rather than cynical or violent.

If Wanderers' most recent signing was fortunate in any way it was that he survived a difficult first half in which he and Fish were stretched by incisive thrusts from Marcelo and Campbell and that referee Butler chose to lecture him rather than issue a second yellow card after another foul on the Brazilian three minutes from time.

"I don't like to see players sent off but the rules say Warhurst, having already been booked, had to go," Bruce complained of the penalty incident.

But Todd countered: "I don't think he (Marcelo) was through for a clear chance at goal.

"The referee looked at the situation and common sense prevailed." Wanderers can't say they hadn't had enough warnings before 20-year-old Campbell, starting his second spell on loan at Bramall Lane, put the Blades in front on 33 minutes, although they were right to be frustrated by the bizarre events leading up to it.

They'd played the ball skilfully and smoothly out of defence and the lively and positive Michael Johansen was trying to get an attack going when his attempted pass out to the left cannoned off Holdsworth and sent the young Middlesbrough striker clear of Fish. Having twice found Jaaskelainen in his way, he wasn't going to miss this golden opportunity. A goal down and in wild and windy conditions - footballwise as well as weatherwise - Wanderers were being tested to their limits.

The timing of Holdsworth's first - the 50th of the season for the Reebok attackers - couldn't have been better and if the gods had been on his side two minutes after the break, his second would have come much sooner.

Heavy going it might have been but the build up, starting with Neil Cox mopping up exquisitely at the back and feeding through Per Frandsen and Johansen at pace through midfield, ended with Holdsworth turning Frandsen's cross against Alan Kelly's post. Sellars' follow-up shot was blocked by Shaun Derry and Kelly managed to force Holdsworth's second attempt away for a corner.

It was breathtaking stuff; Wanderers at their best and deserving of a goal. But they got their reward for their persistence in trying to add a touch of class to their thoroughly workmanlike performance when Johansen and Frandsen again - this time with Bob Taylor linking - created the space for the hard working Frandsen to test Kelly. The Republic of Ireland keeper again managed to get in the way but couldn't prevent Holdsworth knocking in the rebound.

Kelly's smart save prevented Johansen from putting the game out of Sheffield's reach three minutes later and left Wanderers to survive a couple of scary moments in a thrilling finish which saw Jaaskelainen - referred to by Todd as the Forgotten Man when he was virtually redundant against Palace - make two important punches under pressure. and Mike Whitlow's attempted clearance rebound out of a crowd of players and fly inches wide of his own post.

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