The Blades secured a 1-0 victory in South Wales, moving them up to the top of the Championship following their third away win in a row.
Heckingbottom was forced into three changes for the game. Fleck, McBurnie and Ahmedhodzic missed out through injury and illness and they were replaced by Basham, Sharp, and Arblaster were handed their Championship full debut.
The opening stages of the match were closely contested, but as the half wore on Cardiff City started to carve out some decent chances. Former Blade Callum Robinson almost guided a header into the far corner.
Moments later the Bluebirds created another opportunity as Robinson looked to cutely place the ball into the top left corner from the edge of the box.
United didn’t create much in the first half even though Norwood, Arblaster and Ndiaye looked promising when they touched the ball.
Chris Basham almost handed Cardiff the lead when he played a terrible pass back towards Wes Foderingham in goal, but Cardiff latched onto it and thankfully the Blades performed heroic blocks to deny the hosts.
At the halftime interval, Blades debutant Oli Arblaster was subbed off for Manchester City loanee James McAtee, and it was this sub by Paul Heckingbottom which changed the dynamic of the game.
McAtee seconds into the restart stole the ball from the Cardiff defence, which had looked dodgy up to this point, and as he dribbled into the box he chose to find a pass rather than have a crack at goal for himself.
The City youngster linked up for the goal as Baldock broke into the box along the byline and drilled home a right-footed strike past the keeper.
Considering all of the injuries we are dealing with at that minute, this was a huge victory to send the Blades off into the world cup break.
As a side note, it was sad to see Jack Robinson go off with an injury, but it was nice to see Ciaran Clark back in the side and I think he did well. He looks nice and composed whenever he touches the ball, and tactically he sees the bigger picture.
Cardiff: Allsop, Romeo, Wintle, Ralls (Whyte 71), O’Dowda, Sang (Rhinomhota 77), Kipre, Harris (Colwill 63), Nkounkou (Ojo 71), Ng, Robinson.
Unused: Alnwick, Etete, Nelson.
Blades: Foderingham, Baldock, Stevens, Basham, Sharp, Egan, Norwood, Robinson (Clark 14), Osborn, Ndiaye (Khadra 88), Arblaster (McAtee 45).
Unused: Davies, Amissah, Brooks, Sachdev.