Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder was the first to admit that his side got away with one at Cardiff City Stadium in a 2-2 draw against the newly-promoted Bluebirds.
It was the third successive Championship draw for the Blades and they finally got their first goals of the new campaign as they hit back from a second-minute goal to take a 2-1 lead in a whirlwind opening seven minutes.
Jack Moylan fired the home side into the lead before Tom Cannon scored from the penalty spot and Callum O’Hare replied for the visitors. Cian Ashford then levelled matters in the 38th minute during a thrill-a-minute first half.
“I’ve been in the Championship long enough not to get embarrassed by picking up a result like that. I think we were fortunate at times today and they were the better team,” admitted Wilder.
“I’ve been in that situation as well, a promoted team coming up and playing an established Championship team, and they were the better team.
“It’s as simple as that but we’ve been the better team on loads of occasions and not got what we deserve. That’s just how it is and we have to quickly move on.
“Brian (Barry-Murphy) will be disappointed he’s not got a win and we’ll be delighted that we’re taking something back up the road.
“I’m delighted that we’ve remained unbeaten, although I’m not kidding myself that it was a performance that we can look back at and smile about. We can’t look back and think we were good.
“We’ve got work to do and we are trying to find that consistency. The players stayed in the game, and while I know that’s not a huge positive, it is a positive that we’ll take home with us.”
Sheffield United will face another of last season’s promoted sides, Bolton, on Tuesday night, while Cardiff will take their unbeaten record to Loftus Road to face QPR.
Cardiff boss Barry-Murphy is pleased to have seen his side score five goals in their three games to date back in the Championship, but is keen to get that first win.
“The players are disappointed not to win, but they gave absolutely everything. It’s a game we could have, and should have won,” said Barry-Murphy.
“I think it’s fair to say we’ve shown we are capable of coping with the step up to the Championship. We know the level of challenge and we’re relishing it.
“It wasn’t a very comfortable start to the derby game against Wrexham and we went behind early. We conceded twice in this game, so we’ve had tests, yet we just have to keep pushing back and keep pushing forward.
“We created good chances, although I would have liked to see us create more clear-cut chances. We were a little bit rushed in the final bit of the box in the second half, but we can improve that.”
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