Scott McTominay scored twice in stoppage time to give Manchester United a much-needed 2-1 victory over Brentford on Saturday.
After Mathias Jensen opened the scoring with the help of some more bad goalkeeping by Andre Onana, the Bees seemed set to end their own seven-game losing drought.
United faced a third home defeat in eight days until replacement McTominay emerged as an unlikely hero.
The Scotland midfielder has been in good form at international level, but he was only added three minutes from time by Erik ten Hag.
McTominay scored three goals, but after his first effort was disallowed for offside, he scored twice in six minutes of additional time to relieve pressure on his manager.
Victory lifts United up to ninth and within four points of the top four.
Ten Hag’s task was not helped by a mounting injury list in defence with Raphael Varane’s absence adding to the unavailable Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tyrell Malacia and Sergio Reguilon.
The out-of-favour Harry Maguire was paired alongside 35-year-old Jonny Evans in central defence as a result.
But it was United’s under-fire goalkeeper who was the culprit for the opening goal.
Casemiro was also at fault as he gave away possession cheaply to Yoane Wissa, who surged into the United box.
Victor Lindelof’s attempted clearance came back off Wissa and into the path of Jensen.
The Dane’s low effort, however, should have been stopped by Onana as the ball slid through his right hand.
The Cameroonian goalkeeper, who joined United from Inter Milan in July for £47 million ($57 million), has made numerous blunders as United has lost its first two Champions League group games for the first time.
That lack of confidence carried over into Premier League action, and United looked destined to replicate their 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace last weekend as they labored in pursuit of an equalizer.
Marcus Rashford forced stand-in goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha into a near-post save.
However, Rashford remained a shadow of the player who scored 30 goals last season, and the home crowd applauded when he was substituted for Alejandro Garnacho just after the hour mark.
Ten Hag also sent a message by replacing the out-of-form Casemiro for the second period.
Antony was brought for the final half hour for the first time in the Premier League since returning from a leave of absence to face domestic violence allegations.
But it was another substitute who might have turned United’s season around.
When Anthony Martial was ruled offside for touching Garnacho’s pass into his path, McTominay feared he had been denied his moment of glory.
Strakosha was making his Premier League debut, and the former Lazio goalkeeper did not shine, ruining all of Brentford’s excellent work late in the game.
First, he spilled Diogo Dalot’s shot, which McTominay expertly handled and blasted home.
Strakosha could have done better with the winner as well, failing to claw away McTominay’s header from Maguire’s flick-on, sparking wild celebrations from the home crowd.