Although Tuesday night`s game may have been lacking in quality, it certainly made up for it in entertainment. Sheffield United got off to the perfect start when, after 20 minutes, Webber crossed for Akinbiyi who neatly looped a ball over Doyle’s head and in to the far corner of the net. Both teams had squandered a number of chances before the break through in a lively first quarter of the game. Jerome had Birmingham’s best chance but saw his shot blocked by Bennett after he was put through. Nicky Law was also denied by Doyle who saved well from his free kick early on.
The pace of Webber, Kabba and Ifill appeared to be causing City a number of problems down the wings, but the Blades couldn’t capitalise on the chances, while Jerome was City’s main threat and saw another chance saved by Bennett.
Birmingham’s bizarre equaliser came right before the break. As Morgan looked to clear up field the ball deflected off City striker Campbell and looped over Bennett and in to the net. The freak incident left the sides level at half time.
Montgomery got the second half off to a good start for the Blade as he was put through by Sommeil only to see his powerful strike whistle just wide of the post. Unsworth also saw a long distant strike pushed wide by Doyle, while Campbell almost grabbed a second for himself and City but saw his shot pushed on to the post by Bennett.
As United looked to be getting on top it was actually Birmingham who took the lead on the 70th minute when some sloppy defending let Bendtner through. With Jerome coming back from an off side position Bendtner raced through the gap in the defence, took the ball round Bennett and placed it into the empty net.
City were gifted a third goal on 79 minutes after more poor defending by the Blades. A weak back pass from Short left Jerome through on goal and the ex-Cardiff striker made no mistake, rounding Bennett before coolly finishing.
United soon replied though when five minutes later Unsworth layed a free kick off to Montgomery who in return sent the ball flying passed the Birmingham wall and in to the net to bring the score back to 3-2.
As United pushed for an equaliser in the last five minutes they were again caught a number of times on the counter attack by Birmingham. Larsson finally condemned United to defeat in the 93rd minute when he finished from close range to leave the final score 4-2 to City.
Neil Warnock made it clear that United were not taking this competition too seriously when the teams were announced at the start of the game. The first 11 did not contain a single player that started against Everton at the weekend. Having said that the Blades still put out a side that was capable of progressing in the competition. Birmingham certainly came to attack but it was mistakes by the Blades defence rather than the potency of the City attack that really cost United a place in the next round.
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