Ben Brereton Diaz (second right) celebrates scoring Sheffield United's opener
Sheffield United showed there was no lasting hangover from Monday's defeat at the hands of Championship pacesetters Leeds, responding with a 2-1 victory at Queens Park Rangers.
Five days on from the 3-1 loss to Daniel Farke's side at Bramall Lane, the Blades were quickly back on track in west London.
Ben Brereton Diaz got them up and running with his third goal for the club, heading home from close range after 10 minutes and Tyrese Campbell added a scorcher from outside the box early in the second period.
A converted penalty from Michael Frey on 72 minutes, after Harrison Burrows was adjudged to have blocked a cross with his arm, ensured QPR were never out of the fight. But despite a couple of late chances for the hosts, the Blades held firm.
Victory for Chris Wilder's men, combined with Leeds dropping points in a draw with West Bromwich Albion earlier in the day, meant Sheffield United narrowed the gap between first and second to three points.
And at the end of a week which started with evidence there was a significant gulf between the two sides in the automatic promotion slots, the Blades manager will have been boosted by the ground lost on Leeds this week being just a point.
QPR, who remain 14th despite a fifth defeat in their past seven games, showed plenty of grit to keep the Blades on edge until the final whistle.
Both Frey and, deep into stoppage time, Koki Saito had headed efforts miss as the Blades were forced into a defensive rearguard.
Yet on balance of play and, for a moment of real quality from Campbell - whose spin and top-right-corner finish from a left-foot hit on the edge of the area nine minutes into the second period effectively settled the contest - they deserved the points.
Brereton Diaz provided the assist for that strike to complete an effective all-round effort from the Chile forward, after his 10th-minute headed effort had put the visitors ahead.
But the Sheffield United were never allowed to really settle until Campbell's seventh goal of an interrupted campaign. And almost as soon as they did, QPR were back snapping at their heels.
Frey had plenty of chances throughout the match and thought he had equalised six minutes before the break, only to be flagged offside after turning in Seito's headed centre from five yards out.
Given a chance from 12 yards on 72 minutes, he made no mistake, putting away a seventh league goal of the campaign and ensuring the visitors were made to sweat the final quarter of the match.
'We learned lessons from Leeds loss' - reaction
QPR manager Marti Cifuentes told BBC Radio London:
"Disappointed and sad because in many aspects I think we performed at a high level against a very good side. I think we really pushed to get a better result but despite [the fact] we create more chances and controlled many parts of the game it was not enough.
"They scored a quality goal with a great strike but then we kept pushing and dominated large parts of the game.
"When you play against sides of the quality it is important not to make mistakes and the two goals were something we could have done better."
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"It was so disappointing on Monday night because they deserved a little bit more than what happened. It definitely wasn't a 3-1 and we were all pretty down on Tuesday.
"But the reaction yet again was first class. It has never been an easy place to come here and we were up against a competitive team.
"We defended in the second half and maybe learned our lessons a little bit from what happened on Monday night. We still had a threat at the top of the pitch. And Ty's goal was an amazing goal.
"I don't agree with the referee over the penalty. He [Harrison Burrows] has turned his back and it's just smashed his arm. We were scratching our heads at the referee's performance from both technical areas today.
"But we have done what we needed to do which is get the win. We have the best away record in the division and we are proud of it. It is something we need to hold on to if we are going to keep nudging our points total up."
