EX-SAINT Neil Shipperley stuck the knife into his former club last night as the Blades continued their push for the Premiership.

Veteran Shipperley's solitary strike on 55 minutes was enough to freeze Saints out of contention on a cold night and ruin George Burley's home debut.

With little time to train and an injury list as long as his arm, Burley is having to fly by the seat of his pants after leaping into the Saints hotseat during the busiest period of the season.

But last night's loss makes it three in a row - two for Burley in three days - as Saints, once talked of as promotion contenders, continue to slip down the Championship table.

Yet for much of the game Saints looked bright and pushed forward, almost snatching a goal when Brett Ormerod and Rory Delap scrambled in shots that were blocked by the diving Paddy Kenny.

But the naivity of a Saints team forced to reshuffle through injuries and illness showed as the experienced visitors soaked up first-half pressure before upping the tempo after the break.

The superb Danny Webber played Shipperley into space behind a static defence before he slipped the ball between Paul Smith's legs for the only goal.

Burley was pleased with an improved performance on the 3-0 Boxing Day drubbing at Watford - but philosophical about the difficult situation he finds himself in.

"It's going to be a big challenge." he said. "We were a little bit naive at the back. We had a lot of young players playing against a team that was very experienced.

"We were very naive for the goal, which was disappointing.

"Before the goal went in I thought we were the more likely to score.

"The performance was way better than at Watford.

"We played well in the first half but we just couldn't get the goal. And we nearly equalised at the end. We definitely deserved something."

Two games in three days meant a rest for 16-year-old Theo Walcott, dropped to the bench for the first time since mid-October.

In Brett Ormerod and Kenwyne Jones, Saints started with two strikers who have shared only three league goals between them all season - and none since the end of September.

The latter passed a late fitness test on his injured calf along with Darren Powell (hamstring) to take their places in the starting line-up.

Antti Niemi was too ill even to take his place on the bench and Burley elected not to have a replacement shot-stopper in reserve.

In midfield David Prutton made way for Rory Delap to partner Nigel Quashie.

Chris Baird started his second league match in a row - after almost two years without any starts - while teenagers Matthew Mills and Nathan Dyer were handed their first home league start.

And it was Dyer who started brightly with some searching runs into the Blades' box.

It may have been men against boys for the 18-year-old Dyer against the vastly experienced David Unsworth, 33, but it was the youngster who was giving the footballing lesson.

Smith pulled off a sharp diving stop to prevent a Nick Montgomery effort before Dyer glided past Unsworth only for the former Pompey star to deliberately take the youngster out with a shoulder barge when he was no where near the ball.

Unsworth, who was lucky to escape with a yellow, continued to foul Dyer before Saints had their only real chance.

On 26 minutes the lively Jones lobbed the ball in as both Ormerod and Delap scrambled in shots that were well blocked by the diving Kenny.

Sheffield upped the tempo after the break and led by a dangerous front trio of Shipperley, Steve Kabba and Webber, the Blades thrust forward.

It was Webber, who was having the better of an out-of-position Martin Cranie, who created the goal when he beat his man before putting the ball behind a naive back four for Shipperley in space.

The striker paused for a fraction of a second before cooly nutmegging Smith.

Theo Walcott looked dangerous when he came on for the out-of-sorts Ormerod after 60 minutes, but a late Jones strike aside Saints never really threatened.

Baird, Mills, Dyer and Powell all did well, but Burley's boys were unable to blunt the experienced Blades.