Tom Davies celebratesRex Features

Tom Davies' goal was his first since scoring for Everton in a 5-2 defeat by Watford in October 2021

Ian Woodcock
BBC Sport England

Substitute Tom Davies scored a late winner to send Sheffield United back to the top of the Championship as they beat Sunderland at Bramall Lane, where both teams played most of the match with 10 men.

An action-packed first half saw the dominant visitors miss a great chance to open the scoring when Patrick Roberts' penalty was saved by Michael Cooper.

Both teams then had a centre-back sent off, with Chris Mepham shown a red card for a last-man foul on Tyrese Campbell before home defender Harry Souttar was given a second yellow for a tug on Wilson Isidor in first-half stoppage time.

Black Cats keeper Anthony Patterson was forced into smart saves by Vini Souza and Femi Seriki but he could not keep out Davies' low snapshot.

Sunderland looked for a late leveller that would have seen them secure a sixth successive draw, but the Blades, who have now kept eight clean sheets in a row at home, held out for a hard-fought victory.

Former England Under-21 international Davies was making just his second appearance of the season after returning from a long-term injury and he was thrown in the air by jubilant team-mates after the full-time whistle.

Defeat will be tough to take for Regis Le Bris' fourth-placed side, who saw their 10-match unbeaten run come to an end in dramatic fashion.

In what was a third game in six days for both teams, the Wearsiders had much the better of the the opening exchanges.

Teenager Tommy Watson looked lively down their left and it was he who won the penalty when he was brought down by Jack Robinson after racing on to Isidor's lovely flick.

However, Cooper guessed right as he dived low to his left to keep out Roberts' kick - and within 10 minutes the away side found themselves a man light when Mepham was adjudged to have denied Campbell a goalscoring opportunity after United took advantage of a loose pass by Sunderland's Luke O'Nien.

Numerical parity was quickly restored, though, when Souttar was dismissed after foolishly pulling Isidor back after the young Frenchman turned him on the halfway line.

Understandably, the second half lacked the quality of the first, but both teams pushed to find a goal.

Ex-Everton man Davies proved to be the unlikely hero, five minutes after being brought on for the fading Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.

Davies had not scored in more than three years, but he latched on to a loose ball in the box and hit a firm shot that beat an unsighted Patterson.

Sunderland will look to claim a first win since 26 October when they host Stoke a week on Saturday, while the Blades travel to play-off chasers West Brom the following day.

Davies revels in 'amazing feeling'

Sheffield United midfielder Tom Davies told Sky Sports:

"It's obviously an amazing feeling. I just wanted to come back and show something and I managed to do that.

"The manager hasn't rushed me back, he's let me recover. I just said a massive thanks to him.

"It's an amazing club, so we just want to see where the season is going."

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder told Sky Sports:

"The last 20 to 25 minutes, there was only one team that looked like winning in my opinion. That last 25 minutes were outstanding and the fitness levels were amazing.

"We needed to control the middle of the park and, when we did, I thought we were good. We still made poor decisions. When you make poor decisions, it becomes a basketball game.

"I always felt there was a winner inside us and I never felt like they were going to score."

On Davies returning from injury to score the winner: "No shortcuts, Tom's quality is to be seen by everybody.

"When you get moments like that, those kinds of stories in football, it puts a smile on your face."

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"We are frustrated at the end of the game, because we demonstrated a good level against one of the strongest teams in the league.

"We controlled the game and we were dominant but we didn't score.

"I hope we can keep this mindset because we have a good level, but we have to find some details to change the dynamic.

"We created chances, so it's a shame. We did well but it was not enough."

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