Football: Relentless Flo quiets the Dons

Sheffield United. .2

Wimbledon. . . . . 1

THE MEMORY of Brian Deane has already begun to fade from Bramall Lane. The departure of the England striker to Leeds for pounds 2.7m did not please the followers of Yorkshire's Premiership poor relations, but now they have a new blade to praise instead.

What is more, Jostein Flo cost a mere pounds 400,000 and there is no quicker way to a Yorkshireman's heart than a bargain. The Norwegian international, acquired by David Bassett a week ago, scored on his Sheffield debut to set the Blades on the way to their second successive home victory. He always looked the man most likely to score in a match that lived down to expectations and did so two minutes before half-time.

The battle of the Premiership dinosaurs had Wimbledon looking like an endangered species twice in the opening minutes. Dean Whitehouse made a good run down the left and his slighted cross found an unmarked Carl Bradshaw whose shot seemed to have beaten Hans Segers. The goalkeeper managed to flick the ball against the bar with his palm, John Scales scrambled it away and from the corner Flo headed narrowly wide.

Wimbledon should be familiar with the long-ball game but United's application of it caught their back four unawares so often that Segers had to play sweeper, making a string of intercepting excursions. It took Wimbledon half an hour to get a shot on target, Warren Barton and Dean Holdsworth testing Alan Kelly - but not seriously - from 20 yards in the space of 30 seconds.

Flo put another looping header over before, inevitably, his blond head rose above the pack to head home Kevin Gage's free kick from two yards. He might have increased United's lead but Bradshaw cut the ball too far back after making a good run to the byline.

An exchange of goals on the hour made no difference to the outcome. United's other new boy, Willie Falconer, headed in Whitehouse's corner, but Andy Clarke came on for Dean Blackwell and pulled one back with his first touch, driving in Alan Kimble's pass from an acute angle to bring the game briefly to life.

The only defects in Flo's ice-cool performance were the booking for a challenge on Roger Joseph and a glaring miss on the stroke of time, but by then the home crowd had already cheered the news of Leeds' defeat and Deane's replacement could do no wrong in their eyes.

Sheffield United (4-4-2): Kelly; Gage, Pemberton, Wirmola, Beesley; Bradshaw, Kamara, Falconer, Whitehouse; Flo, Cork. Substitutes not used: Tracey (gk), Ward, Hartfield.

Wimbledon (4-4-2): Segers; Joseph, Blackwell (Clarke, 60), Scales, Kimble; Barton, Sanchez, Earle, Dobbs; Fashanu, Holdsworth. Substitutes not used: Digweed (gk), Talboys.

Referee: A Wilkie (Chester-le-Street).