Man United hosted West Ham in a crucial PL top-four clash as Martial, Cavani, and Rashford finished off a lightning move with the final kick, with a tight offside call for VAR.
United, watched on by Sir Alex Ferguson, had looked as if they’d miss the chance to leapfrog West Ham into the top four, mustering only one shot on target in 90 minutes of regulation time.
But three minutes later they not only scored, but the winning move involved all three of Rangnick’s attacking substitutes.
Anthony Martial fed Edinson Cavani on the left, he fired low across the penalty area and Marcus Rashford scrambled in having been usurped in the starting line-up by Anthony Elanga in recent games.
Old Trafford went crazy like times of old. But there was still a modern twist to the drama with VAR undergoing a long check to see if Cavani had been offside when receiving the ball.
It looked desperately close but technology ruled in United’s favor and Rangnick was able to smile for virtually the first time on an otherwise anguished afternoon.
‘If you score in the last second of the game that is the best type of win, particularly with a clean sheet. I think in the end we deserved to win,’ said the German.
‘It takes patience to play West Ham. A few moments at the end I wished we would have passed the ball instead of shooting from wherever”.
‘Bearing in mind we played a few days ago against Brentford, the team looked physically good. The way we played defensively, won balls back, I was really happy.”
‘I’m very pleased the three subs scored the goal. All were involved. That makes it more important.’
United were better than in recent weeks with Cristiano Ronaldo looking interested in link-up play as well as scoring goals. Also skipper Harry Maguire was aggressive in his challenges as he returned for Victor Lindelof, playing particularly hard against his former Hull team-mate Jarrod Bowen.
But it was still far from a vintage display with Alphonse Areola’s only save coming from Fred before Ronaldo tested him with a shot from an offside position.
Though Ronaldo had justifiable claims for a penalty at the end of the first half when Kurt Zouma barged him in the back, the home side wilted in the second period and West Ham looked the likelier scorers at the end.
David de Gea had to pull off a great reflex stop to prevent a Raphael Varane deflection from creeping over the line.
But United’s late breakthrough enabled Rangnick to celebrate consecutive wins for the first time. It won’t be enough to extend his tenure beyond the season when United will seek for a longer-term solution like Mauricio Pochettino but it was an improvement on their last home league game, a miserable 1-0 defeat against Wolves.