If football matches were just 45 minutes long, then that second half was brilliant viewing with both teams eager to pull off three points for two different reasons.
The Blades, who carved City open in the first half, were looking to cement their spot in the top six in their quest for promotion while the Robins were hoping to shrug a monkey off the back by picking up their first back to back wins of the season - and it left for enthralling viewing.
The gulf in class was evident at times as Sheffield United played brilliantly between the lines, particularly in the first half with the quality and movement of attackers Morgan Gibbs-White and Iliman Ndiaye.
Matty James and Han-Noah Massengo struggled in the first half and were left chasing shadows at times piling the pressure on the three centre-backs to keep their waves of attack at bay.
Captain Dan Bentley left a few thousand with their heart in their mouths with two questionable pieces of goalkeeping when he tried to rush off his line but was spared from being left red-faced when the visitors failed to take advantage with the goal gaping. Although he did make amends for his terrific distribution in the build-up to the goal.
But City came out fighting in the second half, more compact in the middle with greater impetuous to pose more of a threat to the visitor's goal.
On another day, the hosts could have scored two or three but a shared point was probably a fair reflection of the match as we bring you the talking points from an entertaining penultimate home game at Ashton Gate.
Chris Martin's milestone
If there's one player that deserves to hit double figures then it's City's workhorse Chris Martin who showed once again why he is so crucial to Nigel Pearson's side.
He'll rightly get the plaudits after hitting 10 for the season - a solid achievement at the age of 33 - especially after finding the net just twice last campaign.
However, it was his movement off the ball today that was hugely impressive and once again was so crucial to City's attacking threat in the second half.
In the first period he was relatively anonymous as his side struggled to get the ball in advanced positions. His team-mates were pegged back, conceding possession in sloppy areas leaving Antoine Semenyo to feed off scraps.
Pearson summed it up well after the full-time whistle how the improvement in the second half allowed the strikers to see more of the ball in the United half and stamp their authority on the match.
Martin's selflessness by dropping deeper created so much space for the likes of Andi Weimann and Semenyo to exploit and had City been more ruthless in their final ball they could have easily had two or three.
When dropping deeper, the likes of Chris Basham and John Egan didn't know whether to follow or stay in position and it proved a real Achilles heel for Paul Heckingbottom's side throughout the contest. The movement and work off the ball in particular cannot go underappreciated.
Martin was modest at the full-time whistle admitting it was a "decent achievement" to hit 10 for the season and not something to be sniffed at although admitted he could and should have had more with the number the chances he has had throughout the campaign.
For a player who has faced his fair share of criticism throughout the campaign, Martin is more than deserving of his moment in the sun.
Timm Klose's future
Nigel Pearson has not been shy in reiterating in recent weeks how the players who are approaching the end of their contracts still have to prove that they deserve to be a Bristol City player next season.
Timm Klose is one of those that fit into that category. Having signed a short-term six-month deal in January, there has been no confirmation as to whether the Swiss veteran will extend his stay at Ashton Gate for at least another year.
However, with three games to go of the season, surely he already has done enough to warrant an extension regardless of how he performs between now and the Huddersfield match on May 7.
Firstly, let's discuss his fitness. When he was signed in January there were serious question marks about whether he would be able to stand the rigours of the Championship.
He had picked up a serious injury during his time with Norwich, damaging his knee ligaments which effectively called time on his successful stint with the Canaries.
A loan stint with Basel would follow but he went six months without a professional club up until agreeing to a January move to BS3 with Pearson eager to add numbers to his backline in the absence of Nathan Baker.
Since joining, Klose has played in every one of City's Championship matches - 15 games in total - suggesting that even at the age of 33 he remains a very reliable option at the back in regards to his availability.
On to his form and whilst Klose is certainly not a long-term answer, there have been more than enough good performances in those run of matches to suggest he still has the ability in the Championship.
Yesterday's performance optimised that. Whilst he does lack pace he makes up for it with his brilliant capability to read the game. Gibbs-White gave him difficulties early on but he responded and adapted, improving as the game went on.
When City were under pressure, Klose was more than up for the task of dealing with the crosses that came into the box. He bailed out Bentley in the first half following the keeper's moments of madness and right towards the end of the contest he cleared away too inviting cross from a Sheffield United perspective.
With the amount of talented youth coming through the ranks at City, they'll only benefit from having a character like his in the dressing room. Rob Atkinson is only 23 and is in his first season of Championship football.
The likes of Ryley Towler will also be hoping to make a breakthrough next season and even if Pearson considers switching up his centre-backs in an effort to improve the defensive record, he could do a lot worse than having a player of Klose's calibre at his disposal.
The two notable absentees
When the team-sheet came out at 4:30 pm, two names were missing from the substitute bench in defenders Zak Vyner and Cam Pring.
You can't help but feel that with three games remaining that is ominous for the pair - probably more so in Vyner than his team-mate.
Pearson instead opted to bring in youngster Duncan Idehen onto the bench having pulled together a string of impressive performances for the Under-23s side.
Having seen him in action a handful of times, Idehen's inclusion was completely justified and well deserved but it does raise some doubts over the two more senior players in the side.
When asked about it before the game, Pearson said it was no reflection on the players who missed out and instead he saw it as an ideal opportunity to give Idehen some further experience amongst the senior squad.
Vyner hasn't started a game since the 3-1 defeat at Swansea in which the manager was completely scathing about some of the individual performances of his side that day - the defender the obvious casualty.
Just 45 minutes of action have followed since which came in the 1-1 draw with Peterborough and it's fair to say Vyner didn't exactly give Pearson a selection headache with his cameo quite possibly his final audition before what is expected to be a ruthless summer.
Pring, however, is a different matter. He has found game time relatively difficult to come by since the Swansea defeat, making three starts. He was taken off at half-time against Nottingham Forest, played the full 90 minutes at West Brom in the absence of Joe Williams and just short of an hour against Bournemouth.
This is not saying that Pring will find his future under threat. He enjoyed a purple patch midway through the season that earned him a contract extension until the summer of 2024 so the club obviously see a future for him.
However, when Jay Dasilva hobbled off minutes into the second half, Pearson may have been regretting in hindsight leaving him out of the squad as Ayman Benarous had to fill in at a wing-back role - which he did well enough.
Perhaps he is going through a difficult spell, struggling to reach the same levels of form shown in the earlier part of the campaign but it will certainly be interesting to see if the next three games how involved he is.
It's the effort that counts
What a difference nine days make. It was only against Peterborough that the manager was obviously highly frustrated with his team's performance.
His emotional comments in which he took aim at the passiveness of the club were evident of his irritation while also criticising his player's mental side of the game as the rock-bottom side pulled off a point with 10-men.
Then Stoke followed in which he got the exact response he was looking for when his side pulled off an impressive and dogged 1-0 away victory.
Going into the game yesterday, it was obvious that Sheffield United would have the quality to cause City trouble but in reality, Pearson's side were dominated in the first half, lucky to get into the second half with the scores level.
Even the half-time whistle was greeted by a few disgruntled boos from the 18,000 supporters inside Ashton Gate who were expecting to see a lot more quality from their side.
Now any other times this season and City could have rolled over in that second half but they came out like a new side, obviously buoyed by whatever was said by the manager at half-time.
They were more compact in midfield, helped by the terrific second-half performance of Han-Noah Massengo whose showing in the second 45 minutes epitomised City's performance on the whole.
Pearson said after the game that they played with "a bit more control in the second half with a bit more tempo." Sheffield United still had their moments and showed glimpses of their Premier League ability but City matched them just by their willingness to get men behind the ball and stop the crosses going in.
When the full-time whistle blew, the reaction from the supporters was completely contrasting. It wasn't the three points that they wanted but the players put on an entertaining show, proved their quality on the counter-attack and showed enough bravery that on any other day would have rewarded them with three points.
That determination was acknowledged by the supporters, appreciative of the effort that went into the final result.
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