Senior Sports Editor
IT'S been 17 years since
The former Warriors captain spent 13 years in the top two leagues of the game in
He also had the honour of becoming the first African football star to feature in the rebranded English Premiership in
Ndlovu blazed a trail, in an adventure which eventually saw a flood of African stars, including the likes of
Three players, with African connections, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Axel Tuanzebe of
The Blades, with only one win in the first half of this crazy English Premiership campaign, produced the shock result of the season by defeating the Red Devils 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Goals by
Incredibly, almost 20 years since Ndlovu left English football, the former Warriors skipper found himself, somehow, connected to the events at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
One of his last teammates, during his swansong season in English football,
The ageless Englishman was the star of the battle, producing a defensive masterclass, to inspire his team to an improbable victory.
The statistics, supplied by OptaJoe, provides interesting reading:
At 38 years and 163 days, Jagielka became the oldest outfield player to start an English Premiership match at Old Trafford, against the Red Devils, in 20 years, since
The defender, playing only his second game of the season, with the first having come against
Jagielka, together with his central defensive partners, Ampadu and
Bryan and Burke scored their first Premiership goals, the first time two players have celebrated their first goals against the Red Devils, in the same match, since
Incredibly, ahead of last night's game between
Sheffield United became the first
Jagielka, who also captained Everton during his lengthy career, was named man-of-the-match and, after his powerful performance, which made a mockery of his age, he told BBC Sport:
"I'll have to have an ice bath now but I don't care!" Yesterday, he woke up to some rave reviews from the British media.
"What
"He will have been disappointed to be beaten in the air by Maguire from Telles's corner for
"This was only his second outing since coming on as a substitute against Solskjaer's team at
They were part of the Blades side which reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup, where they lost 0-1 to Arsenal, and the
The duo played a huge part, in helping Sheffield United beat
But, in a chaotic ending to the bruising contest, Jagielka restored parity with a stunning goal from distance in the first minute of added time.
Then, with the very last kick of the game, Ndlovu popped up to drill the ball home, after his shot had rebounded into the area, to trigger pandemonium inside
While Ndlovu left Sheffield United, at the end of the 2004 season, ending his romance with English football, Jagielka stayed at the Blades and, on
With the Blades leading 1-0, goalkeeper
This meant manager
The Blades win on Wednesday night was their first, at Old Trafford, since 1973, ironically, the year Ndlovu was also born.
Given the former Warriors skipper is a Liverpool fan, his old former teammate, Jagielka, could not have chosen better opponents to produce his man-of-the-match performance.
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