Brian Howard's Blades debut on Saturday was limited to the last quarter of an hour as a substitute, but it was enough for Kevin Blackwell to see confirmation of why he had brought him to Bramall Lane:

"He is good on the ball, wants it all the time and sees a pass. He slipped people in two or three times which is a facet of the game we have found difficult recently."

But the United boss was also keen to play down the theory that the midfielder would automatically land a place in the starting eleven for the next fixture:

"Brian is only one part of the squad and with having won three out of three there is no real reason to think about changing things. Like everyone else he will want to take his chance when it comes.

"It was nice to get him on in a no pressure situation but at 3-0 up it would have been nice to give everyone out there a full run-out.