HARPER IS TOON HERO IN SHEFFIELD WIN

FOR so long, Steve Harper was left in Shay Given's shadow at Newcastle.

With the Ireland keeper watching on in his role as a Sky guest in the wake of his own five-star performance for Manchester City a day previously, it was the 34-year-old who took centre stage.

Cardiff were on the brink of moving top of the league when Nottingham Forest snatched an injury-time equaliser on Sunday. The same fate looked set to befall the Magpies, just as their fans were celebrating reaching the summit again.

Time seemed to stand still as Darius Henderson headed goalwards from point-blank range but Harper reacted with outstanding reflexes to pull off a quite remarkable save.

The only goal of a feisty encounter came when Ryan Taylor's 54th-minute shot deflected massively off Chris Morgan to wrongfoot Ian Bennett and stretch the Blades' poor run to four league defeats on the spin. It arrived after a crunching challenge by Kevin Nolan on Kyle Naughton that the hosts felt was worthy of a free-kick.

Chris Hughton refused to accept his side had been fortunate, stating: "What we have had is Steve Harper who has made a couple of absolutely fabulous saves and that's the quality of the keeper he is.

"He's doing the business. There's different aspects to Steve Harper. He's a Newcastle lad and has been here for a long time, he's a very calming influence, a mature lad and a mature player and that has been invaluable for us."

Blades skipper Morgan, who engaged in a running battle with Toon centre-forward Andy Carroll, was booked for one of a string of misdemeanours and is now suspended for next Monday's game with Barnsley.

"I'll admit it, I ran over a black cat about a month ago," joked Kevin Blackwell afterwards. "I thought I got away with it, but I've been found out.

"What can you do? That's just typical of the last few weeks. Goals have gone in off someone's backside and it was a foul on Kyle Walker.

"But you don't get those decisions. I don't know. Then it's come in and 'Morgs' has deflected it in.

"There wasn't much wrong today. I thought we played very well. It was a top performance from a side that's a little bit short on luck at the moment."

Henderson and Carroll passed up early opportunies before Keith Treacy and Stephen Quinn fired in efforts as the home side started to get on top. Ched Evans almost broke the deadlock but shot wide as the Blades looked the better side in the first half.

After the break, it was a different story as Bennett kept out Nolan before Carroll's header from a Taylor cross struck the woodwork.

Taylor's shot deflected off Morgan to ultimately settle the match and Blackwell was angry Walker was forced to limp off after the challenge from Nolan in the build-up to the winner.

Harper became a key figure in the closing stages as he frustrated Henderson from close range, smothered a Keith Treacy attempt and then pulled off the wonder-save from Henderson that deserved to win any game.

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