Ten-man Sheffield United held on to to clinch a draw in their opening Championship match at Cardiff.
Bluebirds batter away but unable to find winner
Ten-man Sheffield United held on to to clinch a point in their opening Championship match at Cardiff as the two sides battled it out in an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Cardiff City Stadium.
The Blades were reduced to 10 men in the first half when 21-year-old Matthew Lowton saw red for a reckless tackle on Kevin McNaughton 11 minutes after Ched Evans had fired the Blades into a scarcely-deserved lead.
Cardiff had enjoyed an early spell on dominance but it was the Blades who stole the lead through Evans. The striker was initially hauled down by Hungarian defender Gabor Gyepes but rose back to his feet to pounce on a pass from Leon Britton to slot the ball home.
Lowton was then given his marching orders, leaving the onus on Cardiff to seize on the numerical advantage. The Bluebirds appeared to do just that when Jay Bothroyd got them on level terms after 62 minutes, the striker blasting into an unguarded net after Michael Chopra had bamboozled Steve Simonsen and rounded the keeper to set up his colleague.
Simonsen proved to be the United hero, however, pulling off a string of excellent saves in the remaining minutes as the hosts found their path to victory blocked by the fortitude of Kevin Blackwell's side.
Turbulent
The hosts were simply glad to get back to playing football after a turbulent summer off the pitch - they were hit with a transfer embargo which was only lifted on Friday.
They made the better start and had the ball in the net after 13 minutes when Chopra burst through, but the striker was penalised for a foul on Johnny Ertl.
And 10 minutes later, against the run of play, United took the lead.
Evans could have been awarded a penalty when he was hauled down by Gypes, but the Wales international quickly got back to his feet when the ball broke to Britton.
The summer signing from Swansea pinged the ball back across goal and Evans was on hand to turn it past Cardiff keeper David Marshall.
However, United were dealt a blow when Lowton, making only his third league appearance, was sent off by referee Peter Walton for a reckless high challenge on McNaughton.
The visitors made it to half-time without too much drama, and were relieved to see Mark Hudson's header from Peter Whittingham's corner fly wide after the break.
But City finally prised open the Blades rearguard on the hour mark when Simonsen came charging out of his goal to meet Chopra on the right of the penalty area.
Held out
Chopra's superb control of the high ball allowed him to jink around the diving keeper and feed Bothroyd, who was able to slot the ball into the net despite two defenders standing on the goal-line.
Simonsen made a better fist of saving at the feet of substitute Ross McCormack five minutes later after he was put through by Chopra.
The keeper also held on to a dangerous cross-shot from Darcy Blake, tipped another McCormack effort around the post and blocked Chris Burke's drive as Cardiff pressed.
He pulled off an even better save to deny Chopra from the edge of the area, diving at full length to palm away the striker's fierce shot, as the tiring 10 men held out for a point.
