Date: 11 December 1982, Old Trafford, First Division.

Background: United were hunting down Liverpool in the race for the First Division title and the mid-December clash with Notts County offered Ron Atkinson’s men a chance to grab another crucial three points. It proved to be a relatively straightforward game at Old Trafford and goals from Norman Whiteside, Frank Stapleton and Bryan Robson had us three goals to the good going into the final five minutes.

The goal: Mike Duxbury, a man more renowned for preventing goals than scoring them, picked the ball up just inside the opposition half and drove at a tired, leggy County side. The full-back slipped the ball to Whiteside, who took a touch and then played it perfectly back into the path of the marauding defender. Duxbury pushed the ball inside and with the Magpies goalkeeper Raddy Avramovic diving at his feet, the 23-year-old chipped in eloquently with his left foot to wrap up an excellent 4-0 win for United. It may have been just one of seven goals Duxbury scored during his 10-year stint for the Reds, but you couldn’t tell by his composed and effortless finish.

What happened next: United ultimately finished third in the league, behind eventual champions Liverpool and runners-up Watford. But it was in the cups where we excelled that season and, after recovering from the disappointment of losing the League Cup final to Liverpool, the Reds overcame Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup final a few months later. Incidentally, his goal in the victory over Notts County was Duxbury’s sole strike of the campaign, but he did play in every single one of our 60 matches in 1982/83. 

Reaction: While Mick celebrated the goal with glee, his team-mates were slightly less sympathetic, instead choosing to poke fun at what they considered a scruffy finish. “All the lads came up and started taking the mick out of me for it,” the former United defender claimed in his autobiography, It's Mick, Not Mike. “Crazy that we could be having this intimate chat about what had gone on in front of 60,000 people! They couldn’t just celebrate, they had to take the mick!”