The Blades have brought in goalkeeper Steve Simonsen on a month's loan from Stoke City.

And the 30 year old who joined up with his new team-mates for the first time on Friday morning will be plunged straight into the starting line-up at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

With Mark Bunn having been recalled by Blackburn Rovers earlier in the week, Kevin Blackwell was faced with choosing between Ian Bennett, Estonian newcomer Mihkel Aksalu or trying to bring someone else in:

"Ian Bennett is our recognised number two and I decided that with the position we are in we needed a new number one.

"It wouldn't be right to throw Mihkel in at this stage of his career - he is still learning English, never mind not having played any senior games yet.

"If he was to make a mistake on debut the fans would remember that and we don't want to damage his confidence straight away - he is basically one for the future.

"Steve Simonsen is a very good goalkeeper with a real presence and he was a big feature of Stoke's promotion to the Premiership. We are taking him for a month and will see what the situation is then.

"I have to thank Tony Pulis and Stoke for letting Steve out. They understand how difficult it is to get good players in on loan at this time because most clubs are involved in either promotion or relegation."