Twine stars as Bristol City thrash Sheffield United

Scott Twine's superb free kick was his 26th goal from outside the box in the past five seasons - 16 of the them free kicks

Bristol City stunned beaten play-off finalists Sheffield United as they won 4-1 at Bramall Lane on the opening day of the Championship.

The game was a repeat of the play-off semi-final between the pair - which the Blades won 6-0 on aggregate - but ths time Scott Twine scored twice and helped set up his side's two other goals in an impressive away display.

Twine gave the Robins a perfect start as he fired a right-footed free kick into the top corner from 25 yards that left Blades goalkeeper Michael Cooper with no chance.

The 26-year-old had a second chance deflected over the bar from the edge of the area four minutes later before the Blades levelled.

Callum O'Hare lost the ball but did well to win it back before exchanging passes with Gustavo Hamer and then slipping in Tyreese Campbell who blasted in a left-footed effort past Radek Vitek.

The hosts went on to dominate the first half with some excellent passing play as Louie Barry and Harrison Burrows went close - but despite their dominance they fell behind again to an equally impressive goal.

Bristol City debutant Emil Riis held the ball up on the left, cut inside and found Twine who played it into the path of the onrushing Ross McCrorie who arrowed into the bottom corner.

United continued their onslaught - they had 77% of the possession - as Barry and Sydie Peck brought out excellent saves from debutant goalkeeper Vitek as they went in a goal down at the break, despite seven consecutive efforts on goal.

But the tables tuned at the start of the second half as Anis Mehmeti put the Robins 3-1 up after 41 seconds as he guided home Riis' cross.

Twine blasted a long-range effort inches wide of the top corner seconds later before the forward made it 4-1 as his shot deflected off Tyler Bindon to leave Cooper stranded after Rhys Norrington-Davies had given the ball away to McCrorie.

The goal killed the game as a contest and Riis fired an effort over from close range for City, while Jason Knight bravely blocked a shot from United's Tom Cannon and Vitek made a wonderful diving save from a close-range Peck header in the final few minutes.

Substitute Sinclair Armstrong almost got as fifth for City, but Cooper blocked his near post effort after the striker had broken from deep.

What was the main talking point?

Gerhard Struber previously spent 11 months in charge of Barnsley when they were in the Championship

Before the game the talk was how Sheffield United would bounce back after their disappointment in the play-off final - they were beaten 2-1 by Sunderland to see them spend a second year outside the Premier League.

It saw Chris Wilder lose his job as Blades boss with Ruben Selles replacing him after spells at Southampton and Reading.

And while at times United's forward play was scintillating they made basic errors in possession and without Jack Robinson able to start due to injury, they looked shaky at the back.

Bristol City had suffered a record 6-0 aggregate loss in the play-off semi-finals 89 days ago, but this win will give the club huge confidence that they can make a promotion push again under new boss Gerhard Struber.

New forward Emil Riis looked excellent while Twine struck fear in the Blades defence time and again as Struber's wing-backs - in particular Ross McCrorie - caused the hosts all sorts of problems.

Sheffield United have the depth of squad which makes you certain they will be title contenders - even if they were given a post-match dressing down in front of the fans on the pitch by Selles.

But this win puts a marker down that Bristol City could well be up there as well.

Twine shines as Robins fly high

Scott Twine scored five league goals last season for Bristol City

From the first minute Twine excelled for Bristol City.

His free-kick was exquisite while his pass into McCrorie for the second goal was perfectly weighted.

He should have scored more goals before setting up the third for Mehmeti and his second goal was a just reward for an excellent individual performance.

The hosts struggled to pick up Twine as he operated in-between the lines and provided the fulcrum for almost all of City's attacking play.

He was rightly given a standing ovation from the visiting fans when he came off with 20 minutes to go.

He scored just five league goals last season after making his move from Burnley permanent - if he can play like this for the rest of this season he could be one of the Championship's hottest attacking talents.

'The finishing was on a great level' - Struber

Sheffield United manager Ruben Selles told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"I'm massively disappointed.

"We came here today, we wanted to have a good performance in front of our fans and nothing went on the side that we wanted.

"There are some technical aspects that we need to improve. But we have some parts of the game, especially after we equalised, where we can use that moment to score the second one and change the dynamic of the game.

"We didn't, they did and their third goal was a massive factor in the game and we conceded the fourth one too quick.

"There is a lot of things to improve, it's not good enough from anyone starting from my side."

Bristol City head coach Gerhard Struber told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We did many things in the right way today.

"Our pressing worked most of the time - we had a little bit of a gap in the first half for 15 to 20 minutes.

"But we changed our trigger moments a little bit and how we press, especially in the second half, and this worked much better.

"We are so clean in our transitions, so sharp and also the finishing was on a very great level today.

"We are very happy with the performance and of course with the result."

Who's next?

The Blades have a couple of tricky-looking away ties coming up - they travel to Birmingham City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night before heading to Swansea City next Saturday in the Championship.

It is back-to-back home games for Bristol City as they face Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup on Tuesday before hosting newly-promoted Charlton Athletic at Ashton gate in seven days.