Some players were worn out and fell to the ground. Some people had trouble staying standing. No, this wasn’t just any Thursday night out with Marcus Rashford; we had just seen a great game between Manchester United and Wolves.

These two teams had fought so hard that they couldn’t move after 90 minutes and nine crazy minutes of extra time. It was getting late.

Rashford had already left the stage. He had to do something really special to steal the show here at Molineux. In the 97th minute, young Kobbie Mainoo scored his second goal of the week, which was the game-winning goal in a seven-goal thriller.

This player, like Rashford, came from United’s famous school and is a real gem. He is a youngster, but he has skills and a personality that are way above his years. He kept his cool when United needed him to in the last few minutes of this game, which were very crazy.

For the second time in five days, Erik ten Hag’s team had just given up a two-goal lead. Wolves are better than Newport County, but they shouldn’t have been able to play again.

But in the 95th minute, Pedro Neto whipped a shot inside Andre Onana’s near post, making Molineux go crazy. United had their work cut out for them again, just like they did on Sunday in South Wales.

Play Mainoo. Two minutes later, the ball fell to him on the edge of the box. He kept his cool and used his skill to skip past two players and curl the winning goal past Jose Sa.

The United bench was empty. They won by a huge amount, and not just because they are now only eight points behind the top four teams.

It looks like they’re picking up speed just when Ten Hag needs it the most. This wasn’t his best team, but now that Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro, and Luke Shaw are back, it was pretty close.

But United still has some old flaws, and they can’t keep throwing away leads like this if they want to recover anything from this strange season.

Since their lucky win in the first game against Wolves at Old Trafford in August, when Andre Onana got away with giving up a late penalty for a rough charge on Sasa Kalajdzic, they have been stumbling along. After this, Gary O’Neil’s team must be sick of seeing United.

What about Rashford? He was the center of attention as soon as he got off the team bus and onto the field. Last week at this time, he was already swimming in Patron tequila in a bar in Belfast. It was time to go on.

He was going to get in a lot of trouble because of those wags at Wolves, though.

Rashford warmed up with his teammates last night to music in the style of a cover version of Tequila by Terrorvision. This was followed by The Champs’ song of the same name.

He had been sent to the replacements’ bench before, so Ten Hag at least didn’t punish him with that here in the West Midlands.

United last came to town on New Year’s Eve 2022. Rashford was taken off because he was too sleepy for a team meeting, but he came on to score the game-winner. Last night, Wolves should have known what was going to happen.

After Bruno Fernandes tipped over Diogo Dalot’s low cross, it took United’s No. 10 less than five minutes to change the game’s outcome. It took Rasmus Hojlund a moment to think about scoring before he passed the ball to Rashford.

He knew just what to do and curled the ball over Jose Sa from 15 yards out. These are the kinds of shots that Ten Hag would much rather see Rashford take after that 12-hour whiskey binge.

It’s also important not to forget Hojlund’s part in the goal. It took them a while to get along, but they now have five goals together in the last four league games, and a sixth was just around the corner.

Shaw got the ball from Rashford when he was wide open, and the defender’s low cross hit Maximilian Kilman and Sa before Hojlund tipped it over the line.

This time, Rashford’s work was what should have been recognized. United fans were so happy they sang

Still, the Wolves came back. Martinez blocked Kilman’s header, and then Onana blocked Craig Dawson’s shot with his face.

In the 71st minute, they had a chance when Neto went down very dramatically, saying that Casemiro’s back leg had caught him. And even though the Brazilian said there wasn’t any touch, referee Jared Gillett pointed to the spot, and the video review agreed with him. With a spot down the middle, Pablo Sarabia, who came on as a substitute, beat Onana.

Ten Hag switched Casemiro for Scott McTominay and Rashford for Antony. Not once this season, but twice, McTominay saved his boss by scoring with a header from Fernandes’ corner.

It was also very important because Kilman scored from close range in the 85th minute, and then Neto tied the game.

Things were ready for Mainoo. On a night when Rashford made things right, United fans have a new hero from their own country.