How Scott McTominay's derby magic caused a headlock and crowd surfing for Manchester United fans

Before the coronavirus lockdown seems so long ago now and most fans will want to forget when Manchester United and the rest of Europe's football teams finished the end of the 2019/20 season and then the entirety of 2020/21 behind closed doors.

And that's without considering Liverpool and Manchester City were victorious in those Premier League campaigns.

But the last match before football was put on pause was one to remember for United supporters, as the Reds came out deserved 2-0 victors against City at Old Trafford.

It was a shock result and one that the crowd relished. When, in the dying moments, United capitalised on a mistake by Ederson to tee up a halfway line shot by Scott McTominay, most of us were celebrating before the ball hit the back of the net.

I was at the game that day and the madness that ensued as United secured the win against their old rivals briefly washed away the creeping worries and fears that would soon consume all of us.

The fan standing to my left grabbed me around the neck with his forearm, while the fan to my right disappeared, only for me to notice him a few rows down on top of some poor man who hadn't been expecting the chaos to hit him from above.

I'd also made the decision to don a McTominay shirt that day and, when the initial chaos had subsided, everyone around me began to hit me on the back and grab me as I walked towards the exit as the full-time whistle. This continued outside the ground.

Liverpool running away with the title as a global pandemic began to reveal itself meant the mood of the United fanbase was understandably sombre prior to kick-off, but 90 minutes of pure derby day joy provided some much-needed light.

It was amplified by the fact that McTominay was an academy prospect