Valerien Ismael’s side have now lost seven of their opening 10 Championship games and sit second bottom in the table after the Blades leapfrogged them with victory.
It was a defeat of the host’s own making, having worked hard in the first half to establish a lead. Yuki Ohashi opened the scoring, turning in Dion De Neve’s scuffed finish to edge Rovers ahead.
That should have given Rovers the confidence to kick on but instead, they crumbled and conceded three soft goals. The first of which was an own goal from Axel Henriksson with Japhet Tanganga’s header back into the centre, hitting his leg as he wrestled with Djibril Soumare.
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The Blades then led on 70 minutes as substitute Harrison Burrows fired them ahead. Rovers got sucked into the centre of the pitch and left too much space on the flank and he finished emphatically after being fed in.
Rovers huffed and puffed but lacked any real strategy or ideas to get themselves out of the self-dug hole. Instead, Tyrese Campbell added a third in the dying minutes, turning in Burrows’ cross after he got behind the defence.
It capped off a horrendous night for the players and head coach, who crumbled in the second half. It’s done little to ease the darkening clouds over those who had turned up at Ewood Park.
With two back-to-back Ewood Park games, this match marked the start of a huge week for Rovers. With tough away games to follow, they needed a result in whatever way possible. Positive performances would no longer do.
They also needed to get the monkey off their back and secure a first home win of the season. Only in 1979/80 (6) had Rovers taken more attempts to taste victory in front of their own fans. A win against Sheffield United would equal the five efforts needed in 1932/33 and 1996/97.
Despite the quick turnaround, Ismael made just the solitary change. De Neve was rewarded for his bright bench cameos with a first start since the opening day of the season. He came at left-wing back for Ryan Hedges, who dropped to the bench, with Rovers sticking with the newly-found 3-1-4-2 shape.
With only 11 goals between the two sides before kick-off, it was always likely to be a game defined by fine margins. That proved to be the case in the early exchanges with both teams cancelling the other out.
The wide areas, particularly Rovers’ left flank, saw the most action. De Neve got into some good crossing positions whilst his opposite number, Cheio Ogbene, looked the most likely to create an opening for the Blades.
Rovers did fashion the game’s first chance but couldn’t take it. Henriksson’s cross was perfectly into the stride of Ohashi but his missed his kick under pressure and missed the ball. With chances like to be at a premium, that felt a good opening.
Sheffield United responded with two decent opportunities of their own which called Toth into action. Callum O’Hare was denied by the goalkeeper’s feet before he clawed away Tangana’s goal-bound awkward effort that was driven into the ground from the resulting corner.
The first goal was always likely to be crucial and it did come the way of the hosts. Ohashi netted his first of the season, making amends for his earlier miss.
It was a lovely ball into the channel from Taylor Gardner-Hickman that sent Andri Gudjohnsen scampering away. His excellent cross found De Neve at the back post and his mis-hit shot fell beautifully for Ohashi to tuck away. Relief for Rovers and a lead to build on at the break.
That hard work was undone 10 minutes after the restart as Sheffield United equalised from very little. Tanganga won first contact from a corner to the back post and the ball hit the back of Henriksson’s leg as he was grappling with Soumare.
That was a real blow for Rovers, having kept the Blades quiet and on the back foot. Tom Cannon then kept Toth honest with a fairly routine save as the visitors sensed blood.
They completed the comeback not long after, just moments after Rovers had made changes to try and restore the lead. It was another poor goal to give away, with the hosts not alive to the danger.
Callum O’Hare was first to react to a loose ball and was then able to feed it into the path of the arriving Burrows, who buried the shot across goal.
That was a disaster for Rovers and with 15 minutes to go, they’d surrendered their lead and were set to be leapfrogged in the bottom three.
What didn’t help the atmosphere in Ewood Park was some peculiar substitutes. After going behind, Ismael took off Ohashi, the last remaining striker, but left Makhtar Gueye on the bench. Meaning Rovers were playing without a recognised number nine whilst trying to chase an equaliser.
It wasn’t until the 87th minute that Makhtar Gueye arrived from the bench with Rovers previously aiming balls into the box to no fixed target. If the first-half lead was hard-earned, this was bordering on self-sabotage.
He had no opportunity to make an impact and Sheffield United went and scored a third in stoppage time. Burrows made another telling contribution as he got behind Lewis Miller and squared for Campbell to tap in.
There is no sugar coating it. That was a disaster for Rovers. The substitutions were strange, the game management was poor and the players crumbled under the pressure.
To surrender a lead from such a promising position and so easily, will do very little to convince fans that there is a way forward. If there was any sympathy around the manner of their defeat at Coventry, there could be none on the reflection of this surrender.
Referee: David Webb
Attendance: 12,104