Raul Jimenez scored a 90th-minute winner for Wolverhampton Wanderers against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Mexico international Jimenez came off the bench and popped up at the back post to secure all three points for the visitors, in a tight encounter with little to separate the two sides.

It secured Wolves' first Championship victory in three games, while Sheffield United's early-season inconsistency continues to stunt their progress.

In a quiet first half in terms of clear-cut openings, the major opportunities came for Wolves, the first of which arrived a quarter of an hour in.

Adam Armstrong collected the ball on the left of the penalty area and delivered a low cross which Marshall Munetsi deflected into the path of teammate Fer Lopez, but his goal-bound effort ricocheted wide via the leg of Liam Kitching.

Moments later, Jackson Tchatchoua and Rodrigo Gomes combined to good effect on the right-hand side for Wolves, and the latter pulled the ball back into the path of Munetsi, but he shot straight at goalkeeper Michael Cooper.

Sheffield United replied at the beginning of the second half with a chance of their own, but Sydie Peck, having been teed up by Sam McCallum, failed to truly test keeper Jose Sa.

Wolves had a strong shout for a penalty waved away when Matheus Mane attempted to lift the ball over Mark McGuinness and the ball struck the Blades defender's arm.

Jordan Ayew, on his Sheffield United debut, did provide Wolves with cause for concern when, shortly after being introduced from the bench, he flashed a low drive beyond Sa's far post as the hosts began to pose more questions.

However, then Jimenez, Wolves' record goalscorer in the Premier League, who returned to the club in the summer, turned Tommy Doyle's sliced strike into the net from close range after Kieran Trippier's pull-back.

Both sides are in EFL Cup action on Wednesday; Wolves head to Everton, while Sheffield United travel to Fleetwood Town.

Just after the hour mark, boss Cesar Peixoto summoned Jimenez and Jordan James from the bench. Seven minutes later, the Wolves manager then introduced Doyle and Trippier.

In what was a tight affair, highly competitive but with little happening in either penalty area, the quality in reserve at Peixoto's disposal proved decisive.

Trippier, Doyle and Jimenez were all involved in the winning goal. An excellent diagonal ball from midfielder Andre found the advancing Trippier on the right-hand side and his pull-back might have been finished off by Doyle.

Although the midfielder's connection was not clean, Jimenez at the back post was the beneficiary and he gave Cooper in the Sheffield United goal little chance to react from close range.

The Blades, who have been hamstrung somewhat in their recruitment efforts in the summer, huffed and puffed and put together some decent moves over the course of the piece, without ever being able to get sharp-shooters Patrick Bamford, Ben Brereton-Diaz and Tom Cannon in positions where they could inflict damage.

But Wolves, who boast the sort of depth you might expect from a side relegated from the Premier League, had their own talisman in the right place at the right time.

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"I'm really disappointed for the players, because they put an enormous amount of effort in against a top team in the division, a team which has just come out of the Premier League.

"I don't think we deserved it, but that is Championship football. People have been really keen to tell me that we haven't deserved the results that we have got, so we have to roll with that.

"I thought we deserved a result with our performance against a very attacking team, with a lot of unbelievable talent. They're bringing on Kieran Trippier and Raul Jimenez in the second half.

"We limited them to virtually nothing. I'm a bit frustrated that, with the areas we got into, we haven't created anything cleaner.

"I think people need more faith in what we're trying to achieve. I'm not a rookie manager, I've been around the Championship for a long time, and my record is pretty decent.

"It has been a difficult start to the season but we have a really good group of honest players."

Wolves striker Raul Jimenez told BBC WM:

"It is really special. It is really good for me to come onto the pitch and win the game. It was a really good goal and celebrating with the fans is always special to me.

"I have missed this great feeling, to be there celebrating with this family. We on the pitch and the fans in the stands - we are all together and we need to be all together to get what we want.

"It has always been special [the connection with Wolves fans]. It has been like this since I arrived at the club in 2018. I felt it since the first moment, so it is really important.

"All of the games have their level of difficulty. All of them have been tough, but we know that if we want to get promoted we need to keep doing the good things.

"Sometimes we have to get wins like this - it doesn't matter how, we just need to keep winning."