Sheffield Wednesday heaped the pressure on the Blades when they overcame a tricky test at Brentford and were 2:1 victors. United's game versus Stevenage kicked-off after proceedings in West London, live in front of the Sky cameras.
United were left trailing at half-time by one goal to nil through Joel Byrom, and their worries were worsened when Scott Laird's deflected effort deceived Steve Simonsen in goal. Richard Cresswell's goal set the Blades on their way to a comeback, with Matt Lowton volleying in an equaliser, but that was it and it wasn't enough to ensure United's fate was in their own hands at Exeter next weekend.
After sitting 2nd for the majority of the closing stages of this League One campaign, the initiative was handed straight to rivals Wednesday following the outcomes of Saturday's games.
An Owls win against Wycombe would do it for Dave Jones' men, but if Wednesday were to falter, a draw or win would be enough for the Blades. Danny Wilson, however, has confessed that he expects United to finish in the play-offs. He said: "If we have to go into the play-offs, which looks likely at the moment, then we'll try and go through that way.
"I'm very, very disappointed that we didn't win the game. We had some great chances at the end - they defended very well, but we still created some great chances.
"The two goals we conceded were poor. Harry (Maguire) has hit the ball onto the striker and it has gone in, the second one is a deflection, which we feel was unlucky, but having said all that, credit must go to Stevenage because they have created some good chances. On the counter attack they were very strong, caught us a few times, we have to have a bit of humility and say that they played very well."