Eighteen-year-old Kobbie Mainoo was Manchester United's saviour as the Red Devils emerged triumphant 4-3 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in an extraordinary Premier League showdown at Molineux.
The Red Devils were unplayable in the first 45 minutes, where the reinstated Marcus Rashford broke the deadlock before Rasmus Hojlund put the visitors in cruise control, also overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo as the youngest Man United player to score and assist in successive matches.
Wolves found their bite in the second period, where Scott McTominay's header would seemingly not be enough to propel the Red Devils to victory, as Pablo Sarabia, Max Kilman and Pedro Neto found the mark for Gary O'Neil's men.
However, just two minutes after Neto's strike deep into injury time, academy graduates Omari Forson and Mainoo combined for the latter to curl home a wonderful solo effort and win the seven-goal spectacular for the visitors.
Following a carousel of stories about his off-field behaviour and long-term future with Man United, Rashford made the visitors' first XI, with Erik ten Hag re-affirming that the matter regarding his controversial Belfast trip and nightclub activities was "closed".
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After making unwanted headlines for a number of days, the script was written for Rashford to steal the spotlight for the right reasons at Molineux, where his redemption arc began with just five minutes on the board.
Diogo Dalot's low delivery into the box was smartly left by Bruno Fernandes and instead reached Hojlund, who held the ball up effectively and teed up Rashford on the edge of the area, where the England winger curled a sumptuous strike into the corner.
Rashford's fifth Premier League goal of the season was just reward for Man United's lightning-quick start, and not until the 21st minute would the returning Andre Onana be forced into a save, but Matheus Cunha's weak attempt was never troubling him.
Mere seconds passed after Cunha's attempt before the Red Devils had the ball in the back of the net for a second time, as Rashford found the trademark overlapping run of Luke Shaw on the left, and the defender's low ball into the six-yard box was bundled in by Hojlund, despite the best efforts of Craig Dawson and Jose Sa.
Amid the chaotic three-man goalmouth scramble, Hojlund appeared to get the final touch to poke the ball home, and the visitors ought to have been out of sight in the 26th minute, but Casemiro headed wide from Fernandes's clever free kick.
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As the half wore on, O'Neil's men were still failing to lay a glove on their opponents, who also had a Raphael Varane volley sail just over in the 34th minute, and only the offside flag saved the hosts' bacon when Hojlund and Casemiro both made the net bulge in the dying embers of the opening period.
Wolves very nearly found an undeserved lifeline just four minutes into the second half from a free kick of their own, but Lisandro Martinez brilliantly hooked Kilman's goal-bound header away from danger after Onana was caught in no man's land.
In the process of exposing his goal, Onana also cleaned out Kilman akin to his clattering of Sasa Kalajdzic on the opening weekend of the season, but VAR official Paul Tierney - who questionably denied Chelsea two penalties in Wednesday's 4-1 loss to Liverpool - saw no need to take action.
Wolves' misery was nearly compounded in the 55th minute as a Toti error presented Hojlund with a gilt-edged chance in front of Sa, but the Dane shot straight at the Portuguese with the goal at his mercy, and that reprieve briefly sparked some life into the hosts.
Three minutes later, Dawson came a whisker away from pulling a goal back for Wolves at the near post, where Onana and Varane just about denied him, and after the former was perhaps fortunate to avoid conceding a penalty earlier in the game, the hosts were then awarded a far more contentious one.
With 68 minutes gone, Neto hit the turf dramatically after the softest of swipes from Casemiro, but Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot without hesitation, and the VAR room upheld the referee's decision before Sarabia calmly stroked home his spot kick down the middle.
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However, just as Wolves' tails pricked up, an inspired substitution from Ten Hag saw Man United regain their two-goal advantage in the 75th minute, as McTominay was left all alone at a corner, directed a header into the ground and into the roof of the net beyond a flat-footed Sa.
In a split second, Wolves' hard graft was undone by some truly atrocious set-piece defending, but the hosts would ironically reduce the Red Devils' advantage once again from a corner of their own in the 85th minute.
Man United could only clear a Sarabia corner as far as Dawson, who volleyed the ball back into the mixer for Kilman, and his centre-back partner calmly chested the ball down before a slick turn and finish to rekindle the hosts' hope.
Molineux then exploded into unbridled pandemonium in the fifth of nine additional minutes, as with several Man United shirts in the Wolves half following a corner, a lightning-quick counter-attack from the hosts ended with Neto firing through Varane's legs and into the back of the net at Onana's exposed near post.
However, the home crowd would fall totally flat just two minutes later, as the much-coveted Mainoo charged at the Wolves backline, opened up his body and found the far corner like a seasoned number nine, sparking jubilant scenes from the away end as Ten Hag's men travelled home victorious.
By ending a four-game winless run away from home, Man United have risen to seventh in the rankings ahead of Sunday's clash with West Ham United at Old Trafford, while Wolves sit 11th before a trip to Chelsea.
Ben Knapton
