A jubilant Victor Wanyama has labelled Charlie Austin’s Saints debut goal in the 1-0 win at Manchester United as “unbelievable” and “amazing”.

The Kenyan played a significant role alongside Jordy Clasie in defensive midfield to give Austin a platform – with the game deadlocked – to come off the bench and dramatically fire Saints to successive victories at Old Trafford.

Ronald Koeman’s side had pressed and harried United throughout and, with eleven minutes left, the script was written for the new £4m striker from QPR to make his divine impact.

Austin came on for Sadio Mane, who once more was thrilling at times yet ultimately frustrating to watch, and – after little more than seven minutes of his introduction – did the very thing Saints had bought him for: score goals.

The 26-year-old evaded his marker Paddy McNair and coolly headed home from James Ward-Prowse dangerous free-kick.

“It’s unbelievable,” said proud teammate Wanyama. “You come for a first game, you come off the bench and then you get a goal like that – it’s just amazing.”

“We are really pleased with him and how he worked in training as well.”

He added: “He (Austin) will be very important to the team. He brings goals and his work ethic is very good for the team.”

Although Austin will take all of the headlines for his fairytale debut, Wanyama was full of praise for the all-round performance of the team.

“We knew we can get something here and we have a good team spirit together today as a team. It was an unbelievable result,” he said.

“They have some good players. We knew it was going to be tough, we had to fight. We won the fight, so we are really pleased,” he added.

The victory marks the first time Saints have recorded back-to-back league victories at Old Trafford since 1969.

The visitors’ triumph was celebrated vociferously by the travelling fans and ignited rage among the home support, who unanimously booed their side at the final whistle. “We knew we had won here before and we knew if we came here and put our own performance and our philosophy here, we are going to get the result,” said Wanyama.

“That’s what we did. We played our own way and we won the battle.”

He continued: “It’s very special, beating United at Old Trafford is not easy. We’re really pleased with the result.”