Oliver Arblaster scored the only goal as Sheffield United held out for a deserved Championship win at Bristol City.

The away side took the lead in the fifth minute when Arblaster fired home from outside the area after the hosts failed to clear a deep free-kick.

Bristol City improved in the second half and Jed Wallace saw a shot blocked before Dan Ballard headed over from close in.

That was as close as the Robins came though and they needed goalkeeper Sam Tickle to make a super save from Japhet Tanganga to prevent the Blades defender from making it 2-0.

Michael Skubala's men have now lost four of their six home league games this season.

Sheffield United moved up to 11th after a second win in three matches.

Sheffield United fell to a late 3-2 defeat at Portsmouth on Wednesday, having played the whole of the second half with 10 men after Hamza Choudhury's red card.

Boss Chris Wilder made five changes for this match and it was one of them who proved to be the match-winner.

Blades goalkeeper Michael Cooper hung up a deep free-kick to the edge of the Bristol City area and Gibson Yah's attempted header clear only went as far as Arblaster, who took a good first touch before thumping home from 20 yards.

The away team enjoyed the better of possession and half-chances for the rest of the first half and Skubala made a double change at half-time to bring on Elijah Adebayo and Wallace.

Despite an improved second-half showing and nine minutes of time added on at the end Cooper was never forced into a save of note as the Blades claimed a fourth Championship clean sheet of the season.

City, who have scored just three goals in six home games, visit high-flying Stoke (15:00 BST) next Saturday, while United welcome lowly Derby (12:30 BST).

Bristol City boss Michael Skubala told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We lost too many duels in the first half, they looked too physical for us.

"You have to score first, we have a big chance to score and we don't.

"We weren't in the right structure for the free-kick, people haven't quite done their jobs. After that we looked a bit shaky.

"At half-time I thought 'I need to change the feel of this game'. We were getting beat up too much.

"Teams are coming here and being more direct and we don't seem to be able to handle that at the moment."

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"It's been a really long week for us and for the supporters. I'm delighted for them and for the boys in there. They're an incredibly together group.

"Today's a big result for us.

"I thought we started really on the front foot and went after the opposition. The atmosphere around the place was quiet because of our performance.

"I was a bit disappointed we hadn't nudged ourselves in front a little bit more knowing it was going to come, as it did, but Michael's not really had a save to make."