Birmingham City player ratings gallery v Sheffield United: Five score 7/10 but two 5s

Birmingham City’s end-of-season and takeover celebrations were cut short on Monday afternoon as second-placed Sheffield United ran out narrow 2-1 victors at St Andrew’s. Blues battled well in the first period and showed the odd bit of promise in the latter stages, but the Blades’ bright start to the second half proved decisive. The hosts let a little bit of complacency slip into their game and Paul Heckingbottom’s side capitalised with two quickfire goals. Dion Sanderson’s late volley gave Blues hope but smart finishes from Oliver McBurnie and James McAtee were enough to hand the visitors all three points.

Birmingham, propelled by the gazing eyes of Tom Wagner watching on in the stands, started the game well in the opening 10 minutes or so, with some nice passing out from defence. Plenty of long balls were flung over the top to Lukas Jutkiewicz, who was able to nod down and find the likes of Juninho Bacuna and Reda Khadra. The Blades, meanwhile, threaded their passes with more patience but couldn’t quite break through due to interventions from Krystian Bielik, Auston Trusty and Harlee Dean, among others.

The first big chance of the game came in the 14th minute, as Bacuna swung an inswinger into the box after an Emmanuel Longelo corner was taken short. It appeared to be heading straight for the top corner after Blades goalkeeper Adam Davies misjudged the flight of the cross-come-shot, but Jutkiewciz had already prepared his action to head the ball and it cannoned back off the crossbar. Bacuna then struck from range in the next phase of play after another corner, but his effort - albeit hit with lots of power - went well wide of the right post.

That opportunity for Birmingham acted as a bit of a wake-up call for Sheffield United as they began to sit in a little more and resorted to going forward on the counter-attack. Iliman Ndiaye looked like the biggest threat for the Blades as he had plenty of joy dribbling beyond Blues’ midfield line. The striker had the occasional shot heading for goal and as did his teammate McAtee, but big blocks from Sanderson and Trusty denied the visitors from scoring an opener.

Just after the half-hour mark, the St Andrew’s faithful - and John Eustace in the press box due to a touchline ban - had their hearts in their mouths as the Blades hit the woodwork twice in quick succession. Tommy Doyle was the first to be denied by the goalframe as his low drive evaded every Birmingham defender. It then came back out to McAtee, who curled a strike with a little more height, but the midfielder saw the same outcome. It was another near miss for the visitors just before the break as Enda Stevens tried his luck, flicking the ball off his thigh and hitting it on the volley from around 20 yards. Neil Etheridge had it covered but it so nearly found the top left-hand corner.

Birmingham’s good work to match the away side in the first half was undone early in the second period by merely 30 seconds of lapsing concentration as Blades defender Chris Basham was allowed far too much time on the edge of the area to deliver a floated cross. Trusty couldn’t leap high enough, Sanderson was out of position, and an unmarked McBurnie was there to head the ball into the bottom left corner. That moment seemingly zapped the confidence and energy out of Blues temporarily as it took just three minutes for Sheffield United to score a second goal. Ndiaye, cutting in from the left, did brilliantly to dribble it past Etheridge and McAtee was waiting to pass the ball into an open net for 2-0.

Blues eventually managed to regain their heads around the hour mark as Lukas Jutkiewicz picked up the ball on the right-hand side and crafted an opportunity. The striker played it hard and low across goal to try and find Khadra, but the Brighton & Hove Albion loanee misjudged his run by a yard or two and was unable to tap it home. That opening for the home side didn’t mean the threat was over down the other end, though, as Blades substitute Sander Berge very nearly made it three to the good. The Norwegian displayed some impressive close control before striking at goal but Etheridge did well to stop the shot, clasping the ball to his chest.

The rain hashed down and the chances kept on flooding in for both teams during the rest of the second half. Blues substitute Hannibal Mejbri had a 69th-minute shot go just wide of the post before Blades attacker Will Osula had a similar miss at the other end moments later. Then, just as the home support thought this was going to be one of those days, Sanderson gave Blues a lifeline. Hannibal’s deep delivery from a free-kick was nodded into the danger area by Marc Roberts and Sanderson struck brilliantly on the volley to make it 2-1. Although still on the wrong end of the scoreline, the goal fired St Andrew’s into life and Eustace was able to celebrate a little with a fist in the air from afar.

Despite some late belief, it was defeat in the end for Blues as Paul Heckingbottom’s men hung on for all three points. There were some great performances out there, though, it must be said. For the final time this season, here are our Birmingham player ratings.