'I'm sure he threw the first one in' - The day 30 years ago when Steve Bruce changed Manchester United history

It is the iconic, unforgettable image associated with Manchester United’s first title under Sir Alex Ferguson, the season when 26 years of hurt were consigned to the history books.

United didn’t win the first-ever Premier League title on Saturday, April 10, 1993, but the pictures from that day are often the first used when looking back on the triumph and there’s no doubt it was a defining afternoon.

It was the moment United returned to the top of the table, capitalising on a Norwich defeat and a draw for Aston Villa. They would win their five remaining games to win the title, but with four minutes to go against Sheffield Wednesday, it looked to be all going wrong, again.

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United had blown a winning position the year before and failure to beat the Owls at Old Trafford would have made it just one win in five games at the business end of the season. They would also have allowed Villa to stay top of the table.

But then came Steve Bruce and those spine-tingling images of Brian Kidd bounding onto the pitch and sinking to his knees, while Ferguson skipped towards the turf waving both hands in the air.

Bruce looped a header in from a Denis Irwin corner after 86 minutes to equalise and then powered in a 97th-minute header to seal the victory. The beaten goalkeeper was Chris Woods, a former Norwich City teammate of Bruce’s, who was staying at the United defender’s house that evening.

“I'm sure to this day he threw the first one in,” Bruce joked to Sky Sports in 2020, although that is probably doing a disservice to the quality of his header.

When the winning goal hit the back of the net it was accompanied by an iconic line from Martin Tyler. “Bruce! Yes! Yes for Manchester United in the