Ben Brereton DÃaz had gone the whole season without scoring. He needed about a yard of space and half a second to end that, and it was enough to win Sheffield United the game.
The Blades beat Wrexham 1-0 at Bramall Lane on Friday night, a third match unbeaten and a fifth league win that lifts them to 10th in the Championship, a single point off the play-off places. It was not a night for highlight reels. It was a night for holding on, which is precisely what Chris Wilder's side have struggled to do for the best part of two years.
One moment of scrappiness, one goal
Sheffield United started the brighter. Jordan Ayew and Sydie Peck both got sights of goal early without seriously testing Anthony Patterson, and Wrexham's only opening of the first half came through Lewis O'Brien, whose drive was blocked by Blades captain Japhet Tanganga.
The goal arrived on the half hour and owed something to a goalkeeper's error. Ayew curled a shot in, Patterson could only palm it, and the ball dropped for Brereton DÃaz to stab home from close range. His first of the campaign.
Wilder was furious moments later when Harrison Burrows went down under a challenge from Wrexham captain Dom Hyam and nothing was given.
Wrexham improved, but barely threatened
Phil Parkinson sent on Sam Smith and Max Cleworth at the break and his side did at least start to carry the ball forward. Former Blade Kieffer Moore lifted one effort over the bar. Ben Sheaf produced a superb last-ditch challenge at the other end to stop Ayew shooting after Michael Cooper's long ball had put him through.
Beyond that, there was very little. Wrexham finished the match with an expected goals figure of 0.6 and a single shot on target, Smith's tame header in the final minute of stoppage time. Josh Windass, Nathan Broadhead and Callum O'Hare were all absent, and the numbers on Windass alone are stark: since the start of last season, Wrexham's win rate drops from 40.4% to 27.3% without him, and their points per game from 1.53 to 1.18.
They stay 17th, and have now lost back-to-back league games for the first time this season.
A clean sheet that means something at Bramall Lane
Since the start of last season, only Blackburn Rovers have dropped more points from winning positions in the Championship than Sheffield United. Blackburn have thrown away 39. The Blades have thrown away 34. They also lost twice to Wrexham last term after leading in both games, which is the detail that gives this one its weight.
So a fifth league clean sheet of the season, earned by defending a one-goal lead for an hour against a side with nothing to lose, is worth more than the scoreline suggests.
"A deserved win, the best team won the game in my opinion," Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield. "I asked our players to ignite the fanbase, and I think they did with their intent and the approach. I thought we played some really good football."
Parkinson was less comfortable. "However you play, it's about 11 v 11, winning your individual duels and coming out on top of the player you're against," he told BBC Radio Wales. "I'll always look at myself and my contributions, I'm the manager and obviously it's a significant one. But equally, I said to the lads, the first 45 minutes, we made them look a really good side."
Match facts: Sheffield United 1-0 Wrexham, Bramall Lane, Championship. Brereton DÃaz 30'. Sheffield United rise to 10th, one point off the play-offs; Wrexham stay 17th. Wrexham visit Middlesbrough on Wednesday.
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