Rhian Brewster revelled in the "surreal" feeling of netting Sheffield United's winner in their 1-0 Steel City derby victory over rivals Sheffield Wednesday.

Brewster's strike in the 64th minute moved the Blades level on points with Championship leaders Leeds United with eight games of their season left. 

It also clinched United's first league double over their city rivals since the 2005-06 season, while also denting Wednesday's play-off hopes, leaving them 12th and six points adrift of the top six. 

Chris Wilder's side were made to work for their victory as United goalkeeper Michael Cooper produced a brilliant stop to deny Michael Smith in the first half. 

Harrison Burrows made an excellent intervention from Josh Windass' goal-bound effort after the break, with Wednesday's profligacy in front of goal punished just beyond the hour.

Having gone close to grabbing the opener, Tyrese Campbell played a pivotal role in giving the Blades the lead when his deflected cross picked out Brewster, who tucked home when unmarked from point-blank range.

Brewster now has four goal involvements (two goals, two assists) in his last eight Championship appearances, and labelled his winner as the biggest moment in his United career. 

"I don't think it's sunk in yet, it's surreal to be honest," Brewster said to BBC Radio Sheffield. 

"With the injuries and since I came from Liverpool, I've not been able to get the goals I wanted, but I hope it shows the fans I have the belief.

"The atmosphere was amazing from both sets of fans. From the moment we came and to scoring, it went silent at that one end."

Brewster did, however, say after the game at Hillsborough that his match-winning moment was also hindered by a touch of cramp before scoring on Sunday. 

"I looked at Ty [Tyrese Campbell] and thought please play it. I got cramp when I was about to hit it and when it went in I was like yes," Brewster added. 

"We came into the game wanting to win like any other game, but this game had more commotion, being a derby. It's a big three points, and now we have to recover and prepare for Coventry [City]."

Danny Rohl, meanwhile, was left disappointed with the result but believed that his side were worthy of taking a point from the contest. 

The Owls ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.29 from their 14 shots, marginally higher than their opponents' 1.14 from their nine attempts. 

Wednesday have now lost their last three home league games, doing so for the first time since losing their first three matches at Hillsborough during the 2023-24 season. 

"Of course, disappointed. We tried, especially in the second half. When you look, they had just one touch in the half. We were ahead of them," Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield. 

"In the end, we deserved a point, but in the end it looked like a mirror of our home performances.

"I think you saw in this game just how competitive we are. I couldn't see a difference from second in the table to us, but the biggest wish for us was to give our fans a good result.

"Now it's all about recovery, and we go again in our eight finals, the next opponents are not easy."