Blackwell left speechless

Blackwell: Opening day frustration

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Kevin Blackwell was left frustrated after he saw his Sheffield United side go down 1-0 at Birmingham.

The Blades looked all set to take a point from their visit to St Andrews until Kevin Phillips snatched an injury-time winner for the Blues.

United had looked solid, without creating many chances of their own, but Blackwell was forced to concede that they were beaten by a moment of individual brilliance.

Opportunity

"It's exceptionally hard to take," he told Sky Sports.

"I don't know how Kevin does it. He just gets one opportunity and it's in the back of the net.

"I'm going to give Kevin all the credit because I'm so frustrated at the moment I might say things I don't want to say."

Organised

Blackwell was able to take some positives from the performance, however, with his defence virtually untroubled until the dying seconds.

"I thought we were very well organised. I don't think they caused us too many problems," said Blackwell.

"I thought we gave a good performance, so in terms of that I'm pleased.

"We had to come here and put a marker down, everyone knows we're a decent side, and hopefully we will get some luck at the end of the season when we need it."

New faces

The former Leeds boss also admitted that he is still searching for new recruits prior to the closure of the transfer window on 31st August.

"I would like to think that there are one or two areas that we still need to strengthen," he said.

"I think that any club that's looking to push on needs to keep strengthening all the time - you can't stand still."