A second 1-0 home loss of the week as they were defeated by Sheffield United.

Bristol City suffered a second 1-0 home loss of the week this afternoon, as they were defeated by Sheffield United.

Oliver Arblaster netted the winner inside the first five minutes of the match, picking out the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Michael Skubala named three changes to his Robins side following their Tuesday night defeat to Blackburn, with Rio Cardines, Luke McNally and Yu Hirakawa replacing Jed Wallace, Lisav Eissat and Sam Greenwood.

The first chance of the game fell to Hirakawa, who nicked the ball off of Japhet Tanganga’s head and burst in behind, forcing a smart save from Michael Cooper. However, the opening goal came moments later when Arblaster’s volley from the edge of the penalty box found the bottom corner.

A break in play followed in the 18th minute, allowing Dom Ballard to receive treatment after a nasty clash of heads, but City’s Summer signing was able to play on. The Blades continued to challenge City, this time from a long throw when Liam Kitching fired narrowly wide of the post.

Gibson Yah looked to draw City level before the break, but he saw his fierce volley inadvertently blocked by Rob Atkinson, bringing a disappointing first-half to an end for the hosts.

Skubala made a double change during the interval, replacing Tanner and Twine with Wallace and Elijah Adebayo with the aim of hunting down an equaliser. They nearly got their just reward in the 65th minute saw two big chances for City, first with Wallace seeing his shot blocked from close range, before Ballard headed over from the resultant corner.

The Robins manager turned to his bench again five minutes later, with Brian De Keersmaecker replacing Yah in the middle of the park. Tanganga came close shortly after, with his back-post header forcing a superb stop from Sam Tickle to keep his side in the match.

Skubala’s final changes saw Sam Bell and Tomi Horvat replace Jason Knight and Hirakawa for the final stages of the match. Ryan Oné was presented with a chance to kill the game off for the Blades in the 86th minute, when the ball fell to him after a defensive mix-up, but he was unable to find the target.

Oné came close again in injury time, this time seeing his header saved by Tickle. De Keersmaecker was then shown the first yellow card of the afternoon, following a sliding challenge on the halfway line.

That proved to be the final action of the game for City, as they succumbed to a second home defeat of the week despite an improved second-half showing.