Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Sheffield United: Harry Pickering's strike gives home side win over promotion rivals
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Harry Pickering's goal was his first since November 2021
Blackburn edged to a narrow victory over fellow Championship promotion hopefuls Sheffield United in an exciting encounter at Ewood Park.
The home side took the lead after only five minutes when Harry Pickering smashed home from inside the area after a brilliantly worked counter-attack.
Chris Basham should have done better for the Blades but scuffed his effort after a mazy dribble past three Rovers defenders and Tyrhys Dolan's fierce shot hit the outside of the post as the hosts then looked to double their advantage before the break.
Sammie Szmodics came close to a second for Rovers when his fine curled shot from 25 yards hit the crossbar and they deservedly held on for what could prove to be a huge win in the race for the Premier League.
A fourth consecutive victory for Blackburn saw them move up to third in the table, six points behind the second-placed Blades, albeit having played a game more.
The two sides meet again at Bramall Lane in two weeks' time in the FA Cup quarter-finals after both recorded victories over Premier League sides in the fifth round in midweek.
Paul Heckingbottom made eight changes to the XI that started the 1-0 win over Tottenham on Wednesday, but his side fell behind early on to a superbly executed counter-attack.
The Blades saw a shot blocked in the area after a corner and Blackburn played the ball out of trouble and raced up the pitch before Dolan showed composure to come inside and play in the overlapping Pickering to drill in his first goal of the season.
United enjoyed the lion's share of possession until the break but Basham's miscued effort aside, did not open the home defence up.
Rovers, who made just two alterations from the win at Leicester on Tuesday, stepped it up after the break and John Buckley should have done better when he blazed over from 20 yards.
The Blades - who have now lost three of their past four in the league - struggled to create anything of note in a tempestuous second half that saw Basham incredibly fortunate to escape a red card for a poorly timed tackle on Pickering.
They will look to return to winning ways when they host another top-six hopeful, Luton, next Saturday, while Jon Dahl Tomasson's Rovers visit lowly Stoke on Friday.
Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson:
"I'm extremely pleased with the win, a deserved win. We hit the woodwork twice as well and of course we all know when we play against Sheffield United, with that Premier League experience and difference in budget, we know it's going to be a tough day at the office.
"But we dealt with the physical part of the game really well. We created some good moments.
"Harry scored an excellent goal. The atmosphere at Ewood Park today was brilliant and we are really going to need our fans for the rest of the games, especially at home. We are delighted with the win."
Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom:
"First half we passed the ball well on a really tricky pitch. We got into some good areas and lacked the quality in key moments. They had three attempts, and two of them were from counter attacks and corners, and one was from us leaving a runner, so at half-time I was confident.
"I thought we'd go on and win the game, and expected us to because it's easy to put those things right.
"But we came out in the second half and Blackburn started much better than us. We had to make changes, had to try and wrestle the momentum back and we did get back on top in terms of ball and territory."