When Moses made United history
On 21 October 1981, history was made when Remi Moses scored his first goal for Manchester United.
It came with pretty minimal fanfare, with some newspaper reports decrying the achievement as getting the Reds out of jail, as a late winner, in front of the lowest Old Trafford crowd of the season, but it carried far greater significance.
While Dennis Walker may be United's first black player, Moses was our second and became our first black scorer and he certainly warrants greater attention when it comes to his contribution for the club.
Unfortunately, we do not have access to footage of the goal. It came with eight minutes remaining and finally broke Boro's resistance, which featured a stellar display by goalkeeper Jim Platt and a shot from Mike Duxbury that crashed against the woodwork.
Northern Ireland international Platt had even saved a penalty by John Gidman five minutes before the full-back crossed into the box, where Frank Stapleton helped the ball on for Moses to fire home.
It was only an eighth United appearance for Moses, who was not a regular scorer - he netted 12 times in his 199 games for the club between 1981 and 1988.
The midfielder is best remembered for his toughness and ability to mix it in the middle of the park. He was suspended for the 1983 FA Cup final for a red card shown for an altercation with another hardman, in the shape of Arsenal's Peter Nicholas, but there was much more to his game.
An underrated passer, it was suspected he could have been more expansive had he not played regularly alongside huge personalities in Bryan Robson, who was also a team-mate at West Brom, and Ray Wilkins.
When called upon to step up in Robson's absence, such as during the 1984 European Cup-Winners' Cup semi-finals with Juventus, he excelled and thrived on the big occasion.
"He competes so well in the midfield," said Ron Atkinson, his boss at The Hawthorns and Old Trafford, soon after raiding his former team. "And he is a very good team player, similar to little Sammy Lee [who played for Liverpool and England]."
There is not enough appreciation of Moses's qualities, with injuries ultimately hampering his output. Even when selected by England in 1984, as Bobby Robson named in his squad for an international against East Germany, he was agonisingly forced to withdraw.
David Meek's report in the Manchester Evening News at the time noted: "The selection of Moses will certainly be welcomed by the Old Trafford management, who feel the little man's contribution is not given sufficient credit."
Midfield colleague Wilkins bemoaned Remi's absence from the 1983 FA Cup final when saying: "He has taken some knocks that have bordered on assault - but you never hear him complain. He just picks himself up and gets on with the game. There is no doubt about it, somehow he has earned the wrath of a few referees, even before he has set foot on the field. Their attitude seems to be 'here's a hard man - I'll jump on him straight away'.
"We all feel for him. He has done so well for us all season and I feel it's a bad break for the lad to miss out on what could have been the greatest moment of his career."
It was a pertinent point and one wonders whether an appearance in one or both of those games against Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley would have enabled the tigerish performer to cement even more of a lasting reputation among the fanbase. An ankle problem also ruled him out of contention for the win over Everton in the same competition two years later, such a key event in the 1980s for the club.
A United supporter himself, the Collyhurst-born Red had cheered the team on from the terraces in his youth, and always gave his all.
He was included in Alex Ferguson's first-ever team, for the defeat at Oxford United in November 1986, and would go on to make 33 appearances under the Scot.
Unfortunately, he was forced to retire at the end of the 1987/88 season, despite making a farewell outing at home to Wimbledon. A man not known for his interviews, the only comment carried by Remi in the press was: "I am not going to make it now."
Yet what he did make was his mark at Old Trafford.
Remi Moses deserves wider recognition among younger fans for his contribution - and he will always be the club's first black scorer.
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