Jordan Rhodes admitted his big moment at Bramall Lane was rendered irrelevant as Norwich City were sucker-punched by Sheffield United.
The Canaries' on-loan Sheffield Wednesday striker put a defiant arm in the air in front of the Blades' Kop following his equaliser midway through the first half – his second goal in yellow.
However, it was the sound of 20,000 boos that sent Rhodes back down the tunnel at the final whistle, as Billy Sharp's winner in the third minute of injury time left City dejected and still winless in the Championship this term.
'Had it counted, that would've been a sweet moment – but it didn't, so credit has to go to Sheffield United,' admitted Rhodes.
'I know with my Sheffield Wednesday ties, I was always likely to come in for a little bit of stick. And probably I'll get even more stick now the next time I play them, so I probably should've behaved myself a little better – with hindsight being a fine thing.
'It is nice scoring goals as a striker but at the same time, you do want it to count towards something and it's a pity that didn't happen.'
Rhodes was also a little too close to United's opening goal for comfort – a third concession from a corner in three league games.
He added: 'The manager and the staff, they analyse things so thoroughly and maybe for the first goal we conceded, I could've done better for it.
'I got myself up to jump with the collision, I even felt the ball rebound over my head and it's one of those things where it goes over Tim (Krul) and I think Tom (Trybull) tried to stop it on the line.
'We're talking about fractions and ifs, buts and what ifs. We just try our best. That desire to keep the ball out of our net is the same as the desire to kick it in the oppositions' net.
'It's little fractions we're not getting at the moment and hopefully that turns our way in the long run.
'Everyone's a little dejected and hurting. When goals go in so late it's really tough to take because you can't bounce back from it.
'We are ever so close to getting things really right and we were saying in there, there are patches out on the pitch that are just really good to watch – and to play in, you can tell we're really not far away.
'We just need to keep plugging away, banging at the door and hopefully we'll get a bit of the rub of the green – and maybe that's all we need; that little bit of luck and that one win to kick-start us and get us going.'
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