A dramatic injury time winner from seventeen-year-old substitute Federico Macheda gave Manchester United a 3-2 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford. Cristiano Ronaldo had given United the perfect start only for John Carew to deservedly restore parity before the break.
It was no surprise when Gabriel Agbonlahor gave an impressive Villa the lead and for a while it looked like The Reds were heading for a third consecutive defeat.
But with ten minutes remaining Ronaldo, with his 20th strike of the campaign, seemed to have rescued a point for Sir Alex Ferguson's men.
Then came Macheda's brilliant finish in the second minute of injury time to send Old Trafford into raptures and United into top spot above Liverpool.
"I'm just grateful to him really," Manchester United captain Gary Neville told Sky Sports News.
"In the first half we fell apart a bit defensively and I think I paid a little bit for not playing for a couple of months.
"But in the second half we played the right way - we never stopped, kept passing the ball and got stronger as the game went on.
"And the quality he (Macheda) has shown there for the finish at the end is unbelievable."
The captain insisted that the team never lost hope of turning around a match they had been losing 2-1.
"You never think you're going to lose," he said.
"When you're out there you always think you can get something and I think when we got the second goal you always think you can get another one.
"You always know you're going to get a chance - Danny Welbeck had one before that and then the ball fell to Kiko (Macheda). We've not seen much of him before today but he's a great finisher and you would always want the ball to fall to him in the box."
Macheda, who ran over to his family after scoring, admitted he was in dreamland.
"I think this is the day of my dreams - to score a goal like that on my debut," he said.
United are now a point clear of Liverpool and four clear of Chelsea with a game in hand.
"A lot of people are screaming Liverpool and saying they are on the charge at the moment and there is no question of that - we accept that challenge," boss Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports News.
"But funnily enough, I think the winner of the Liverpool-Chelsea European tie will be our biggest threat - whoever wins that double-header, because of the knock-on effect.
"So many times it has become such an emotional fixture between the two clubs. There are never a lot of goals in it and they are very tight games.
"So whoever wins that, it will be a big step forward for them."
