Sheffield United held by Birmingham City but still emerge with plenty of credit in promotion bank

Once the dust settled, there was context as to why it should not feel that way amid the bigger picture.

First games back after international breaks are often not straightforward. The rhythm and timing is not quite there. Saturday was a case in point for the second-tier leaders.

Their big players such as Sander Berge, Iliman Ndiaye and John Egan were not at their outstanding best.

Unitedites have learned to expect so much of them, but it is easy to forget that the aforementioned trio are also only human.

They were among a clutch of players who jetted off for duty with their countries in the hiatus and reported back towards the end of the week.

With just one hour together as a group on the training pitch at Shirecliffe before this game, preparation was not pitch-perfect.

United were also without seven first-team players, including arguably their most influential figure this season in the shape of injured defender Anel Ahmedhodzic.

They also faced a Birmingham side getting their act together after a below-par start to the campaign – they had won their previous two away matches and their discipline and shape without the ball on Saturday was pretty exemplary.

There was also a historical aspect.

Blues have found the surroundings of S2 to their liking in recent times. This was their fifth successive visit without defeat and they are fast cultivating a reputation for being pains in the backside. And as good as United have been this season, there is a very simple fact. You cannot win every week. Think Manchester City against Newcastle and Aston Villa recently.

When you are not quite at it, make sure you don’t lose. That’s the trick.

Paul Heckingbottom, whose side were denied a fifth straight win and clean sheet and saw their 100 per cent home record this season go by the wayside, said: "The players deserve credit for how we have approached the game. We’d one one-hour training session with them.

"We had four players train in the international break. And when Bill (Sharp) and Jayden (Bogle) prepared and played for the under-21s on Tuesday, we had two – Oli (Norwood) and Bash (Chris Basham).

"We got a few other boys in and around it on Thursday and Eags (John Egan), George (Baldock) and Sander have played two 90 minutes as well and travelled back."

Heading into the heart of the second half with the game still goalless, it looked a 1-0 game. It looked a Billy Sharp game, in truth.

As has been his recent wont, Oli McBurnie then arrived with a fair old crash, bang and wallop. His goal to end his legendary long barren streak at Luton in late August was a head-turner.

His fifth strike in six matches on Saturday was also emphatic and explosive. Blues duo Auston Trusty and Emmanuel Longelo briefly procrastinated when Norwood’s free-kick was blocked and McBurnie waits on no-one at the minute.

He leathered the ball with some velocity into the roof of the net from 15 yards out. Unstoppable. Beautiful.

It wasn’t a game then for Sharp, who came on not long after for McBurnie, again given the warmest of send-offs. It should have been.

Instead, another old stager took to the stage. A minute after Sharp came on, Blues were level.

It came in the second phase following a corner. The game’s best player in the excellent Talith Chong cut inside on the left and sent over an inviting cross and United – and more especially Egan – did not get their defensive line right.

Troy Deeney boxed clever and latched onto the ball in a flash and buried it. It was the 34-year-old’s first goal since December and he celebrated with understandable gusto.

It was United’s first concession in eight-and-a-half hours of football and only their sixth in 19 home league matches under Heckingbottom and carried weight.

The headlines should still have been Sharp’s, after being played in late on by Berge and with the Kop waiting with baited breath for a classic Sharp re-run, he saw his effort blocked by John Ruddy.

It was that sort of afternoon. Upwardly-mobile sides like United will get plenty more of these type of games this season against opponents who show them respect.

If you come out on the right side of most of them, you are in business. Not too many should back against the Blades doing that this year.

Sheffield United: Foderingham, Basham, Egan, Norrington-Davies, Baldock, Berge, Norwood, Doyle (Brewster 64), Khadra (Bogle 64), Ndiaye (McAtee 90), McBurnie (Sharp 69). Unused substitutes: Davies, Arblaster, Gordon.

Birmingham City: Ruddy, Graham, Colin, Sanderson, Trusty, Longelo, Bacuna (Mejbri 65), Bielik, Chong (Hall 82), Deeney (Bellingham 90), Hogan (Jutkiewicz 90). Unused substitutes:Etheridge, Leko, James.

Referee: Darren Bond (Lancashire).