Erik ten Hag hails 'great' Scott McTominay as Manchester United substitute grabs late winner at Aston Villa

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag hailed match-winner Scott McTominay as “great” as his goal earned all three points at Aston Villa.

United scored in the first half through Rasmus Hojlund but Douglas Luiz equalised for Unai Emery’s men midway through the second period.

The game looked to be drifting towards a draw until the 86th minute, when Scottish international McTominay pounced on a Diogo Dalot cross with a thundering header to claim the win.

It is not the first late goal from McTominay in Ten Hag’s reign and after remarking on a bright start from his side, the Dutch boss turned to his midfielder.

"I liked the first 20 minutes, after that we were dropping too much. We had our moments in the counter attacks, but at 1-1 we had to fight back,” Ten Hag told Sky Sports.

"It was really intense and you could see how many players were fatigued by the end. It was so open and it could have gone two ways. They had the mentality to win this day, especially the substitutes.

"Scott, he's great. He can score many goals, he's always coming in positions to score goals. We had some problems, it was too much like a tennis match. Every game we went for goal instead of waiting for the right decisions. With McTominay, he can get in the box and could score goals."

However, Ten Hag appeared to criticise his team’s lack of ambition, adding: "Our defensive organisation in the first part was very good, on the ball we were calm.

"Once we were winning, we changed our mindset. You can do this when the game is going to an end to play out the result. In the first 20 minutes we scored, why not keep going?"

The victory sees the club stay in sixth position in the Premier League table, but reduced the gap with fifth-placed Villa to five points.

United’s next match is on February 18 when they travel to Luton.

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