Thwarted by Cardiff's second-half leveller Kevin Blackwell was forced to accept a point in the season's opener but, playing with a man short for much of it, he wasn't too downhearted:

"Considering the circumstances we gave a thoroughly dogged and professional performance at what was always going to be a tough place to start.

"We started well, got the goal and were getting a grip on the game when Lowton was sent-off. They hadn't caused us any problems, Marshall had made a couple of good saves and we could have gone two or three up.

"I would have liked to see how things would have panned out if it had been eleven against eleven all the way through."

Lowton's dismissal forced the Blades into a reshuffle which handed Cardiff the initiative but the Welshmen were held at bay by some resolute defending throughout the team:

"We were very tenacious with players out of position - Johnny Ertl is not a centre-back and Matt Lowton isn't a right-back, and then Jamie Ward had a stint at right-back.

"We might not be the best team in the division but we are very organised and we were more than a match for them before the red card.

"It's frustrating but in this division when things aren't going your way you just have to dig in and get something out of it so I have to be satisfied."

Referee Peter Walton's decision to send-off Lowton seemed harsh to many observers, but the United boss accepted that there is little point in trying to make it an issue:

"I don't think that there is any point in appealing. There were two players coming from different angles at full-pelt and there was no malice from Matt - it was just unfortunate that his momentum made things look worse than it was but he will handle it."