Norman Bassette scored his first goal for Coventry City, as well as being involved in the incident that reduced Sheffield United to 10 men
Managerless Coventry City showed their spirit as they came from behind to rescue a point against one of the Championship's top two for the second game running.
After battling from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Sunderland in their final game before the international break - their first since the sacking of Mark Robins - this time, they twice hit back to hold Sheffield United.
In between Sky Blues old boy Gus Hamer twice helping to create goals for Tyrese Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Belgian striker Norman Bassette scored his first goal for City.
But the Blades were down to 10 men from the late first-half sending-off of Anel Ahmedhodzic after an ugly tangle with Bassette when Bobby Thomas netted Coventry's deserved late equaliser.
It was an away point that lifted the 10-man Blades to top spot before Sunderland reclaimed it with their 1-1 draw at Millwall, but they could so easily have surrendered all three.
The Sky Blues players, still reeling from the departure of the popular Robins and now awaiting the reported imminent arrival of former Chelsea and England star Frank Lampard, certainly gave their all for caretaker boss Rhys Carr.
But despite having looked comfortably the better side in the opening exchanges, they were stunned on 13 minutes by the Blades' opener.
Hamer's delightful pass inside the full-back freed Rak-Sakyi to pull the ball back from the right and Stoke City old boy Campbell neatly finished from close range - his fourth goal in five games.
On 23 minutes, however, the Sky Blues levelled for the first time when Bassette, only playing because of Haji Wright's ankle injury, turned the ball in.
Callum O'Hare, booed every time he touched the ball, did have a left-foot shot blocked for a corner. But it was his former Coventry team-mate Hamer who again picked the lock when he slipped Rak-Sakyi in with a neat ball through on the left - and the on-loan Crystal Palace man ran on to slot home.
Having looked the better side when it was 11 v 11, the balance tilted further Coventry's way when, following several skirmishes between the pair, Ahmedhodzic snapped, reacted angrily to Bassette's apparent goading by grabbing him by the neck and got sent off.
From that moment on, having come back from 2-0 down at Sunderland and also in Robins' final home win as Sky Blues boss to beat Luton in late October, Coventry then looked favourites to get something from the game.
Milan van Ewijk was denied by Blades goalkeeper Michael Cooper's outstretched left arm just before the break then clipped the right post on 68 minutes. And the linesman's flag then came to the visitors' rescue when City got the ball in the net from sub Brandon Thomas-Asante in the 70th minute.
But the second equaliser the Sky Blues so richly deserved finally came on 80 minutes.
Centre-half Thomas saw his shot from a well-worked corner routine deflected for another right-wing corner. And, from Jack Rudoni's delivery, Thomas again get on the end of it to power home his second goal in four games and end the Blades' run of four straight wins.
Coventry old boy Gustavo Hamer was the inspiration behind Sheffield United's two first-half goals from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (centre) and Tyrese Campbell
Who's next?
Coventry now head to Turf Moor to face Burnley on Tuesday night, when Chris Wilder's Blades are in home action against Oxford United.
Coventry City interim boss Rhys Carr told BBC CWR:
"The players have shown incredible character and spirit in the last couple of games. We don’t want to take a punch on the nose first; that's the one disappointing thing. But we've still come back against two of the top teams in this division
"They’ve applied themselves so well, but that comes from the training during the week. You can't just switch it on and off on a Saturday. It’s about how you train.
"And, with the bit of quality we've got, we always feel confident we can do things. That goal will give Norman Bassette a spring in his step. His enthusiasm is infectious.
"As regards the red card incident, I’d have to see it back but those sort of things happen every week, trying to provoke and upset the opposition. If Norman has done anything wrong, we'll have a word.”
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"These are a good group of players we were up against, who are under achieving and are one of the top four or five strongest squads in the division. They've decided to turn it on. And that makes this a big point and an important point for us.
"I'm a Mark Robins fan and maybe I can't keep my mouth shut. But, if they'd run around like that the last 14 or 15 games, maybe somebody would have a job still. Maybe there's a new manager sat in the stand and they were trying to impress, but maybe they should have tried to impress Mark Robins a bit more.
"I've no complaints about the red card. I told the ref that at half-time. He had nowhere to go with it, if that's the way certain players want to behave – and we now lose a big player for three games,
"He tried to leave one on Anel early on and went over twice looking for penalties to try and con the referee. Anel should know better. He fell for the three-card trick but their player's gone down like he's been hit by Mike Tyson, holding his face when the contact was clearly around the neck."
