Adam Hammill's late goal was the difference between the two teams as Nahki Wells and his Huddersfield Town teammates bounced back to winning ways at Bramall Lane.
It was a dream debut for loan signing Radoslaw Majewski as the Pole teed up his new team-mate for the winner just hours after completing his season-long switch from Nottingham Forest.
Mark Robins promised his side would be markedly improved from their disappointing display in the 1-0 defeat at Scunthorpe United and his comments were justified as Town dominated.
It was Sheffield United, though, that began at a high tempo and the incessant running of Bob Harris down the left caused the visitors all sorts of problems, with Lee Peltier having to be alert early on to steer behind a low center designed for Jose Baxter in the six-yard box.
Town fashioned a chance of their own more or less straight away, however, with Adam Clayton threading a sliderule pass through the heart of the Sheffield United backline to find Wells, but the striker could not sort his feet out quick enough and his snapshot was blocked.
Harris proved a constant thorn down the left with some dangerous crosses, but his error almost allowed Town to seize an advantage.
Hammill's endeavor allowed him to steal the ball from the left-back and despite seeing his first cross hit the first man, his subsequent delivery had far more purchase and found Wells, but the striker's effort was blocked.
For their slow start, Town slowly began to crank up the pressure and engineered chances at will against a high United backline as Clayton, Jonathan Hogg and Oliver Norwood linked up to good effect before finding the marauding Paul Dixon, but his final shot lacked conviction.
Next to try his luck in a breathless start was Sean Scannell, with Wells locating his strike partner for the night with a superb clipped pass but the former could not bring the ball into his path and the home side got enough bodies back to get a challenge in.
With United content to push upfield, Wells was left plenty of space in behind and it was one of his darting runs beyond the rearguard which helped create Town's next opportunity.
Mark Howard was quick off his line but his clearance inadvertently landed straight at the feet of Norwood, who tried his luck with a speculative volley from all of 45 yards but saw the ball float just wide of the empty goal.
Town's key players were coming to the fore and Clayton's clever pass found Wells but again all that was lacking was the final product as his touch eluded him at the decisive moment.
The chances came thick and fast and showed no signs of slowing down as Scannell collected a Clayton pass and hit a first-time shot just over, before Hammill's teasing cross found Wells for arguably the chance of the half but the striker squandered it, heading into Howard's midriff.
The second half started at a pace you would expect from a pre-season friendly, but Town still continued to produce all the goalscoring chances as Hammill profited from some clever build-up play to fire a snapshot just wide from 25 yards before Dixon's buccaneering run forward culminated i a low deflected strike grazing the far post.
Wells continued to try and spring the offside trap as Town desperately sought the winner their efforts warranted, but he snatched at his chance from Norwood's lofted pass and Mark Robins reacted by hurling on debutant Majewski alongside Murray Wallace, with Peltier and Hogg sacrificed.
It looked as if the game would peter out to a bore draw, but Majewski and Hammill had other ideas. The duo exchanged passes on the edge of the area before the new signing saw his crisp left-footed strike cleared off the line.
It didn't matter. The ball spun up invitingly for Hammill, who had continued his run, and the winger was able to prod the ball into the net from close range to give Town a long-overdue advantage.
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