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The Old Trafford roar was the loudest of a freezing Manchester night.

There were 18 minutes left of Tuesday’s game against Stoke City when teen striker James Wilson won the ball.

Two minutes earlier, he’d come alive after running at the Stoke defence, with defenders Ryan Shawcross and Phil Bardsley backing off.

They’d played at Manchester United as youngsters and learned how to deal with fleet-heeled strikers.

LOOK: Match Action from Manchester United 2 Stoke 1

Wilson got the better of his men and as he moved towards goal, Robin Van Persie screamed for the ball.

He was in a better position to Wilson’s left and wasn’t pleased when the young striker shot wide, but fans applauded his instinct.

As they did after 72 minutes when he picked up the ball near the halfway line and again sprinted towards goal, beating Stephen Ireland.

Roy Keane said the hardest thing in football was to beat a man, but Wilson gave it a go and fans love to see players running at opponents.

Wayne Rooney used to do it more frequently in his youth and Adnan Januzaj impressed last season, but while Rooney’s days of covering every blade of grass have regressed, Wilson is ready to fill his boots.

Ireland reacted by cynically taking Wilson out to earn a yellow card. The crowd’s delight switched to outrage, more so as Ireland used to play for Manchester City.

But did they really expect better of a man who fabricated the death of his own grandmother and not only purchased a car with pink wheels, but actually drove around in it under the impression that it looked smart?

Wilson turned 19 a day earlier and was being rewarded with his first start under Louis van Gaal.

Had he not been ill on Saturday, he would have started against Hull City, the team against which he made his debut last season under Ryan Giggs.

Van Persie would have likely made way.

WATCH: MEN's Stuart Mathieson on Man United v Stoke

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Wilson wears number 49 after van Gaal changed his shirt number from 47 to one with a nine in it and he’s been a revelation at youth and reserve level.

United have produced countless youth players but not enough strikers.

Wilson is definitely a striker with the instinct to score all four goals for United’s under 21s as they beat neighbours City in August.

Will he establish himself when the competition is so tough?

That’s the hard part, but he’ll likely get chances if he plays as he did on Tuesday.

Fans hope the left-footed Wilson will be able to star alongside Rooney, Van Persie and Falcao, the man who replaced him after 77 minutes.

Wilson was given a standing ovation.

His two second-half bursts were the stand-out moments, but like the rest of his team-mates he had an uneventful first half, criticised by van Gaal who felt that his side lost possession too much and didn’t show the same aggression as when they’d faced a dreadful Hull side three days previous.

Playing against a team from 10 miles from where he grew up in Biddulph, Staffordshire, Wilson came alive in the second period and did enough to earn more opportunities.

WATCH: MEN's Stuart Mathieson on Angel Di Maria's injury

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He appears unfazed by the big stage and enjoyed another United victory, the fourth in succession, which keeps his team comfortable in fourth.

United have ridden their luck in recent weeks and victories at home to Stoke are not usually celebrated with such intensity as on Tuesday night when the Stretford End resounded to the victorious cry of ‘Oh, United we love you’, while Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling embraced before the Argentine lifted Manchester United’s only other recognised starting defender in the air.

Thanks principally to more heroics from goalkeeper David de Gea, they’d survived Stoke’s late siege.

Stoke haven’t won at Old Trafford since 1976, but while the fixture may have seemed like a home banker, the Potters triumphed when the sides last met in February.

Given that result and also that, while United’s momentum is undoubtedly building and the team have formed a winning habit, the shoots of recovery remain short ones.

Van Gaal may suggest that his players deserve some luck, given they’ve suffered 42 separate injuries this season.

As their largely poor 2014 comes to a close, United seem to be pulling things together.

Having enough confidence in Wilson to start him in games is another positive in a year blighted by far too many negatives.