Birmingham City 1-2 Sheffield United: In-form Blades rally to beat Blues

Jayden Bogle's third goal of the season followed Billy Sharp's opener - the 259th of his career

Sheffield United made it seven wins in nine Championship matches as they came from behind to beat Birmingham City with goals from Billy Sharp and Jayden Bogle.

The Blades are now up to 10th in the table - and with games in hand - as their transformation from faltering early season strugglers to realistic promotion contenders gathers pace.

After the sixth goalless first half this season at St Andrew's, and a blocked early second-half goalbound Juninho Bacuna volley, it took a grappling match after the break to set the game alight.

Blues skipper Marc Roberts and Blades striker Iliman Ndiaye tangled, visiting skipper Sharp charged in to get involved, yellow cards were issued to Roberts and Sharp and, in no time, goals quickly came at either end.

Bacuna intercepted and hared off on a rampaging run down the inside right channel, switched play to the left and found the on-rushing Lyle Taylor, who veered to his right before firing a superb low right-foot finish into the bottom corner.

The lead lasted just three minutes before the Championship's record-breaking marksman Sharp latched onto Sander Berge's neat pass to thread home an equally impressive goal of his own. His low, left-footed shot into the bottom corner was an early birthday celebration ahead of turning 36 on Saturday.

And, on 74 minutes, the Blades were ahead when John Fleck played in Bogle, who timed his run to evade the linesman's flag and slot home between Blues keeper Neil Etheridge's outstretched legs.

But the hosts were visibly unhappy at Sharp not being flagged offside in the build-up - and Blues boss Lee Bowyer led the heated protests at the officials.

Blues were again weakened by the continued absence of Troy Deeney, who missed his sixth straight match with a thigh injury.

They remain in 17th, 13 points clear of relegation trouble, but having played more games than all the other teams in the bottom half of the Championship.

More protests at St Andrew's

While Sheffield United fans celebrated, it was more misery for Blues fans, who witnessed their side's 13th defeat in 30 games this season, six of which have come at home.

From the joy of going ahead, to see their side then fall apart inside 10 minutes capped another deflating night, dominated before and during the game by their continued protests against the Blues board.

Birmingham fans wore white masks to highlight what they believe is faceless ownership

For the third home game running fans held a protest march. They also wore white masks and blew whistles during a particularly fraught first 20 minutes of match.

But Chinese owners Birmingham Sports Holdings made it clear last month that they have no intention of selling after six years in charge.

What's next?

Bowyer's side are next in action at Bournemouth on Wednesday, while the Blades host West Bromwich Albion.

It is former Blues boss Steve Bruce's first game in charge of the Baggies, back on the ground where he started his managerial career in 1998.

Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer told BBC Sport:

"I'm upset as I felt my players deserved more. We pushed a very good Sheffield United team.

"If there was one disappointment, it was the first goal. They went straight through the middle and that shouldn't happen.

"The second one shouldn't have stood. Simple as that. It was offside. The linesman said their player wasn't close enough to be interfering with play.

"The fans shouldn't be going home too disappointed. But they're upset, I'm upset and the officials will go home, and sleep like a baby and won't have a problem."

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom:

"A real good win, the fact that we fell behind and the way we responded, I felt we deserved it.

"The first half we were a little bit off but we got a lot more sharp moments in the second half.

"Both were good finishes from Billy and Jayden - and the second was a great team goal.

"We've now put ourselves into an even better position to go on from this. We're delighted where we are. We have games in hand on teams but that also gives us a tight schedule."