United's unbeaten home start to the season came to an end with a disappointing display in the Championship clash with Southampton.

The signs were good when Keith Gillespie gave United the lead with a controlled strike but the Saints were quickly in front thanks to goals from Grzegorz Rasiak and Jhon Viafara.

United huffed and puffed in the second half but were unable to break down the Saints defence.

Two goals each in midweek failed to earn Sharp and Shelton starts. They were relegated to the substitutes bench as Robson made five changes. Beattie, Stead, Gillespie, Cahill and skipper Morgan were all recalled, whilst Southampton included new loan defenders Dailly and Ifil, who signed on Friday from Tottenham.

Within a minute two of the recalled players were influential in working the first opportunity. Gillespie put in a free-kick from the right and although Stead failed to connect with a clean header, it was on target.

With the backing of the home crowd, the Blades were the quicker to settle and the opening goal arrived on 12 minutes. Kenny's long kick slipped out from between a challenge between Dailly and Stead nicely for GILLESPIE, arriving from the right, and he drilled beyond Davis and into the corner.

Before the restart Beattie was forced to leave the field to receive treatment on a head injury picked up moments earlier but he was soon back in the action. The goal, however, served as a wake up call for the visitors.

With 20 minutes gone Southampton levelled and it was result of another long ball. Morgan was beaten in the air and a simple lay off found RASIAK unmarked in the left channel area and the Polish striker slid home under Kenny.

Southampton were thankful to Dailly for intercepting Stead after a neat build-up involving Quinn, Montgomery, Naysmith and Hendrie and the visitors were handed a second goal just after the half hour mark.

There was little dispute over the free-kick awarded for Hendrie's foul on Dyer and from a Surman inswinger Kenny committed himself in an aerial challenge with Rasiak and the ball dropped loose for VIAFARA to slide home from the edge of the box, managing to avoid a cluster of bodies.

To add insult to injury - literally - Kenny appeared to pick up a thigh injury and moved about his penalty area uneasily up until half-time.

As you would expect the Southampton goals fired United into life and the visiting defence were put on the back foot. On 35 minutes, from Morgan's pass out of defence, Stead saw Davis off his line and tried a cheeky lob from a difficult angle but the goalkeeper recovered to pull the ball out of the air.

Beattie clipped the ball just wide after a neat move on the edge of the box involving Hendrie and Stead, but the final chance of the half went to the visitors. Ifil's deep cross found Rasiak perfectly but his header, fortunately, struck Cahill and was cleared.

No doubt some choice words were used at half-time as United began the second half with renewed vigour. The home side applied the pressure but it wasn't until the 55th minute before a chance was created. Thomas was booked for a foul on Hendrie but Beattie's powerful free-kick hit the well-placed wall.

On the hour United went close again. Geary played the ball into the strikers and after first-touch lay-offs by Stead and Hendrie, Beattie fired over from the edge of the box.

A rare Southampton break saw Viafara shoot wide and shortly after Robson made a double change with Naysmith struggling with injury and Hendrie feeling the pace after his recent return. Midway through the half, and from Geary's hanging cross, Beattie was unable to generate enough power with his header to trouble Davis.

Robson's last throw of the dice was to bring on an extra striker, Shelton, but the Saints were the next to work an opening and Dyer's long range effort was saved at the second attempt by Kenny.

Saints fans in the Bramall Lane end thought they had netted a third on 80 minutes following a corner. From Safri's delivery, Saganowski's header beat Kenny but Geary leapt from the post he was guarding to head clear.

United resorted to knocking long-balls into the Southampton half whilst the visitors were more than happy to slow down proceedings.

A late Tonge free-kick was headed clear by Dyer and the last opportunity was at the other end of the field where Rasiak was denied a second by the linesman's flag.

United were unable to test Davis in the four minutes of injury-time and the final whistle was greeted with booing from the home fans.

Blades: Kenny, Naysmith (Armstrong 62), Morgan, Beattie, Stead, Hendrie (Tonge 62), Montgomery, Gillespie (Shelton 71), Cahill, Geary, S. Quinn.
Unused: Lucketti, Sharp.

Southampton: Davis, Ostlund, Thomas, Wright-Phillips (Saganowski 65), Rasiak, Surman (Euell 78), Viafara, Dyer, Safri, Dailly, Ifil.
Unused: Saganowski, Wright, Bialkowski, John.