Sheffield United secured their first Sky Bet Championship points of the season as Callum O’Hare scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Oxford.
Last season’s beaten play-off finalists had started the season with six consecutive defeats, a run of which saw new manager Ruben Selles replaced by Chris Wilder.
Despite earning a first victory since May 12, the Blades remain rooted to the bottom of the table, two points behind city rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
United had scored just one goal in their six Championship outings so far this season but O’Hare made the decisive breakthrough in the 65th minute against an Oxford side who themselves had one just one game so far.
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Callum O’Hare of Sheffield United celebrates his goal
The goal was made by on-loan winger Chiedozie Ogbene, who beat Jack Currie to the byline and picked out O’Hare in the centre of the box.
The former Coventry midfielder took a composed touch before firing into the bottom corner, giving goalkeeper Jamie Cumming no chance.
Wilder had made two changes to the side that lost to Charlton last time out, handing a debut to Ben Mee in place of Ben Godfrey, while Alex Matos was replaced by Djibril Soumare.
Tyrese Campbell could have opened the scoring for the Blades, but saw his shot fly agonisingly wide after he was played in by Gus Hamer.
Oxford were on the back of a positive run of form that had seen them take five points from their last three games, including Sunday’s 3-1 victory at Bristol City.
Michael Helik saw an early chance blocked by the visiting defence, before on-loan Spurs forward Will Lankshear headed wide.
Brian De Keersmaecker was next to go close from the edge of the box, but his effort was saved by Blades’ keeper Michael Cooper.
United coped better with the Oxford threat in the second half, limiting the hosts to just four shots, while securing their much-needed winner.
Nonetheless, there was a late scare for Wilder’s men when Greg Leigh hit the post seconds after coming off the bench.
The hosts continued to push and it was Leigh who had another late chance to salvage a point when he headed wide from De Keersmaecker’s corner.
Stan Mills’ ball in was met by Sam Long, who also headed wide, as the Blades held on for the first win and first clean sheet of the season.
The managers
Oxford’s Gary Rowett:
“We know where Sheffield United are in the league and that they’re not at their most confident, but they’ve still got a very good squad, very good players.
“I think it’s a sign of respect the way they came and set up, it felt like to go and frustrate us and maybe nick a point or get something on the break, but I thought we limited them to very little in the first half.
“First half was another very, very good performance, maybe a little bit of quality in the last action wasn’t quite there with the crossing but I thought it was a really dominant first half performance.
“Then second half we knew it would be a little more even, but what you can’t do is allow one moment, one ball, free in the box, takes a touch, finds the corner and we didn’t have that luxury.
“We’re throwing balls in the box, Greg hits the post, they’re defending for their lives and it just feels like we keep leaving the door ajar for teams to get something out of the game when it should be a 0-0 but we go away with something.
“We’ve had three home games where we’ve taken two points and we need to do more than that, which is the frustrating bit.”
Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder:
“It felt great for the players and the supporters. It’s been a tough period for everybody, I’ve watched from afar and I’ve watched from close by over the last couple of weeks.
“The players wanted to leave everything out there, which they did. The second half performance was more like us, more composed, more calm, more belief. I thought there was some really good performances out there.
“We got out (of) the traps, created some good opportunities, (I’m) really pleased with our play, and then we had to do what we had to do late on.
“I think you’ve got to accept we’re on a losing streak, so it’s not going to be free-flowing.
“I never thought it would be free-flowing last week, I didn’t think we’d turn a 5-0 defeat into a 5-0 victory, we didn’t give the supporters the result they deserved last week.
“It was a bit scrappy, a bit bitty first half, but we calmed them down at half-time.
“Believe in the process, believe in how we go about trying to win a game of football with and without the ball and I thought they showed good qualities this afternoon.
“They’re good players here and they’ve been good players wherever else they’ve been, (Chiedozie) Ogbene was great, (Mark) McGuinness was fabulous, Ben Mee, the whole back three.”