Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder admitted Bristol City deserved their point after his side were denied victory by substitute Mark Sykes’ last-minute equaliser.
The Blades appeared to be heading for their seventh win from their last eight league matches after Tyrese Campbell’s neat finish broke the deadlock just after the hour-mark.
But City substitute Sykes slammed home a deserved last-gasp leveller and although the Blades returned to the top of the Championship, they sit just one point above Leeds, who play Millwall at Elland Road on Wednesday.
Wilder said: “I don’t think it was anything they didn’t deserve really. They controlled the game first half.
“If I’m honest, performance-wise, there were more fives and sixes than sevens and eights. If you were looking at their team, there were more sevens and eights than fives and sixes.”
Tempers flared in stoppage time following referee Stephen Martin’s decision to wave away Blades’ appeals for a penalty, after City substitute Cameron Pring appeared to have shoved Harrison Burrows in the area.
Blades skipper Jack Robinson plus City pair Rob Dickie and George Tanner were booked for their part in the melee at the end of a see-saw contest.
Wilder added: “The bit at the end is nonsense. I don’t think there was anything in any of those decisions from a penalty point of view.
“I thought the referee was consistent. He’s a good referee. In my opinion he got everything spot on.
“It might be an important point. It keeps us ticking along. It’s not what we wanted, but we have to suck it up, take our medicine and move on to the next one.”
Bristol City remain two points off the top six in seventh place after losing just one of their last 10 league matches and assistant boss Chris Hogg was delighted to leave Bramall Lane with a point.
Hogg, standing in for head coach Liam Manning, who had lost his voice for the second game running, said: “In this league, you have to scrap hard for anything you get, so it’s a pleasing point away from home.
“It’s a difficult place to come and the performance was the most pleasing bit.
“When you come here you want to try and control the ball to take away their momentum and threat.
“What they do really well here is put teams under pressure, so that was pleasing, but we’d have still liked a bit more from us in the final third.”
