MANY HAVE ALWAYS speculated on when Manchester United’s ability to score late, late high-profile goals first came to the fore.
In April 1993, there was the famous 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday (Ireland’s John Sheridan opened the scoring for the Owls) when Steve Bruce scored in the 85th-minute to equalise and then popped up in the 96th (or 97th as some still maintain) to grab a memorable winner.
Cue the touchline antics of Alex (no Sir then) Ferguson and Brian Kidd and a first United championship in 26 years as they jumped to the top of the table and won their five remaining games following the dramatic turnaround at Old Trafford.
One year later though and United were back in a similar position. Facing Oldham Athletic in a FA Cup semi-final, they struggled through a difficult game with chances few and far between.
The game went to extra-time and two minutes into the second period, Joe Royle’s side took the lead through full-back Neil Pointon after Peter Schmeichel failed to properly deal with a corner.
United, who badly lacked the creative intuition of the suspended Eric Cantona, tried desperately to rally and find something but the well-organised Oldham defence were resilient and disciplined.
Until the very last minute. As United pressed, Pointon thumped a clearance out for a throw-in on the right side. From the set-piece, Dennis Irwin found teenage substitute Nicky Butt who lobbed a hopeful ball into the area. It was cleared but only as far as Lee Sharpe. His lofted pass forward was dealt with again by the Oldham rearguard but Butt was quick to react and the youngster cushioned another header towards the edge of the area.
With his back to goal, Brian McClair hooked a pass over his head and Mark Hughes did the rest…
