Iconic Moments | city at home | November 1994

United 5 - 0 city | November 1994

Throwback to the early years of the Premier League when Andrei Kanchelskis secured his place in Reds history with a derby hat-trick.

Author | Liam C

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With 24 minutes on the clock, the king that was Eric Cantona collected a long ball from Kanchelskis with the outside of his right boot. Then, as goalkeeper Simon Tracey approached, the Frenchman powered his shot straight down the middle of the goal with his left foot.

Cantona then turned provider two minutes before the break when he picked out Kanchelskis on the right side of the penalty area and the Ukrainian's low effort got the better of Tracey at his near post.

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Kanchelskis's second goal of the contest arrived just 120 seconds after the restart, with Cantona once again heavily involved. It was his flick on that released the speedy winger, who held off the attention of Terry Phelan, before going on to round Tracey and roll the ball into an empty net.

Mark Hughes then got in on the act with 20 minutes remaining when he poked home Roy Keane's cross at the second attempt. At this point, United were cruising 4-0 but many fans were thinking about something else.

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Just five years earlier, city had won 5-1 in a derby at Maine Road that all reds hadn't forgotten about. They wanted revenge. They wanted a fifth goal. This was to arrive. 

Kanchelskis ensured in the 89th minute that the night would belong to him and United fans across the world. 

That final goal of a memorable night when Schmeichel threw the ball out to the hat-trick hunter, who in turn played a forward pass to Cantona. He returned the favour once again by releasing Kanchelskis, only for his effort to be denied by Tracey. The rebound fell kindly for Kanchelskis and he squeezed the ball in to complete the rout.

How the outside of OT looked during the 94/95 season

The view of one red that was there

We asked a number of match-going reds from that era for memories of this night. Pete spoke about it being his favourite ever game and gave some reasons for this. He told us: “How do you pick your favourite ever match? I mean, really, out of all we’ve seen and won, how do you pick? 

“This night had everything. The floodlights at Old Trafford, especially in the 90s, seemed to fuel something extra in the atmosphere. This was definitely the case on this night.

“Then there was the performance itself. This was probably the last truly great performance of United’s first great side under Fergie. Everyone was superb.

“We were also out for revenge. Five years earlier, they beat us 5-1, and many of us hadn’t gotten over that. This was the night that it finally happened. The scenes when the 5th went in were just magical.”

K Stand’s finest hour

Another United fan believes the atmosphere in K Stand was at its absolute best that night. Jamie has been sitting in E236 since 94/95 and said this will always be K Stand’s finest hour. He said: “Many of us had been Stretford Enders for years and then moved to the standing terraces opposite that for a couple of years after that side went all-seater.”

“When the whole ground became seated in the summer of 1994, five of us got season tickets and have stayed there ever since. That midweek against city will always be my favourite match in that stand. What a night.”