Billy Sharp’s penalty fired Sheffield United into the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the second year in succession.
The Premier League’s bottom club were made to work hard by 10-man Bristol City but navigated their way through when Alfie Mawson was penalised for handball and controversially dismissed.
When they were knocked out by Arsenal in last June’s last-eight tie, they were on their way to a ninth-placed top flight finish. This year, the competition has roused a soporific season.
Winless until the third round, the elimination of a West Country trio - Bristol Rovers and Plymouth were the others - have been part of six victories in nine matches.