“It’s always difficult to come to Bramall Lane with the passionate support they’ve got, but we got to grips with the game, got the goal and went into half-time feeling a little bit better.

“It was one of those nights when you have to dig in deep as a group and as a unit. I knew it was going to be a hard task tonight, but each and every single one of them rose to the challenge.

“We made a slight tactical change at half-time and I thought that really worked. The boys used the ball well and I was delighted with some of the decisions the players made.

“Gareth and Kieran came up with two wonderful goals. There was wonderful composure from both players. They took their time, picked their spot and got the right connection with the ball.”

Poor distribution from keeper Sam Johnstone presented United with an early chance when Ollie Norwood intercepted the ball and played in McGoldrick who fired in a shot which was beaten away by the keeper.

The opening goal came when Chris Basham found Duffy whose incisive ball allowed McGoldrick to evade his marker and fire past the advancing Johnstone in the 12th minute.

Albion equalised in the 41st minute when Barnes broke free down the left, advanced to the byline and pulled the ball back to Barry who fired into the net from 12 yards out.

Matt Phillips’ shot was saved by Henderson and then Barnes looked set to score when he was put through on goal, but Henderson deflected his effort over.

The winner came in the 76th minute when Phillips showed tenacity on the right wing to hold off his marker before crossing to Barnes, who back-heeled the ball into the path of Gibbs who fired low into the far corner of the net.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said: “For the first 30 to 35 minutes, we dominated a really good side and should have been possibly two or three up. We caused them a lot of problems and should be out of sight.

“We made some really poor decisions after about 35 minutes and just allowed them a foot-hold in the game by giving the ball away really cheaply. Belief drained out of us a little bit, which is not like us.

“In the second half they were the dominant team. They were physically stronger.

“We had our moments but we still made some really poor decisions with the ball. I always thought we’d do well to get something out of the game.

“You’ve got to kill the game off. We move the ball about really well, but we haven’t got that decisive, cutting edge.

“I’m just disappointed in the performance of the players. The mentality of the group was flat.”

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport Staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'b9a86c3c-2943-471a-8929-265698e130dd');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:match-reports');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Moore credits his Albion players for digging deep to beat the Blades'});