Jean Tigana’s men looked well on the way to another travelling triumph after Steve Finnan’s stunning strike edged them ahead early on, but were pegged back immediately.

Their lead lasted little more than another four minutes before Laurent D’Jaffo levelled and ensured that both sets of fans went home relatively happy.

But the Cottagers will have been slightly disappointed given the start they made, with Finnan blunting the Blades with a stunning strike.

There appeared little danger as the Republic of Ireland full-back picked up possession, but a sudden burst took him past one, then two, three and four tackles before he calmly sidefooted his second of the season past Simon Tracey.

Neil Warnock – in the dugout before serving a touchline ban – will have been delighted with his side’s response and although their leveller wasn’t as pretty as Finnan’s it was precious enough.

Michael Brown’s run into the Fulham box went unchallenged and although his first effort thudded against the angle of bar and post cross came in D’Jaffo to bundled the ball past Maik Taylor.

Marcus Bent and George Santos then forced good stops from Taylor as the Blades bludgeoned forward, although having ridden the initial storm, Fulham soon slipped into their familiar passing patterns.

Barry Hayles teed up Lee Clark for a drive that brought the best out of Tracey, while Finnan could have had a hat-trick but saw an effort saved and another fly over either side of the break.

As the game wore on, both defences gradually snuffed out any attacking threat and even the introduction of Cameroon Olympic gold medallist Patrick Suffo could not break the deadlock.

Sheff Utd: Tracey, Uhlenbeek, Murphy, Curle, Quinn, Devlin, Santos, M. Brown, Woodhouse, D'Jaffo (Suffo 68), Bent. Subs Not Used: Sandford, Ribeiro, Kelly, Montgomery.
Booked: Devlin, Murphy, M. Brown, Uhlenbeek, Curle, Santos.
Goals: D'Jaffo 8.
Fulham: Taylor, Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Coleman, Davis, Clark (Sahnoun 71), Fernandes, Goldbaek (Trollope 71), Hayles, Saha (Boa Morte 61).
Subs Not Used: Hahnemann, Symons.
Booked: Trollope.
Goals: Finnan 4.

Att: 16,041
Ref: P Rejer (Tipton).