Daily Echo:

Romeu Lukaku’s late goal inflicted a painful defeat on Saints as Manchester United edged a five-goal thriller at Old Trafford.

Saints produced a superb display and took the lead through a Yan Valery stunner.

United came back in the second half with goals from Andreas Pereira and Lukaku but James Ward-Prowse’s fifth goal in his last eight Premier League games levelled it up.

However, Lukaku’s strike with two minutes to go meant Saints left Old Trafford with nothing but pride to show for their considerable efforts.

The omens didn’t look good for an unchanged Saints side as Angus Gunn was forced into three superb saves in the opening moments of the game.

The first, after just three minutes, saw Lukaku collect the ball via a deflection off of a Saints player and waste no time in getting off a shot across goal that Gunn did well to save down to his left.

Gunn had to come to the rescue again two minutes later to turn over an Andreas Pereira ball in that was drifting under the crossbar.

Just seconds later he managed to save at point blank from Lukaku’s stab goalwards as the ball pinballed around the Saints area following a corner.

Despite all of that Saints should have taken the lead on 12 minutes.

Ward-Prowse’s left wing corner found Jannik Vestergaard unmarked six yards out but he put his free header over the bar when he should have scored.

Saints had appeals for a penalty turned down by referee Stuart Atwell two minutes later as Ryan Bertrand went down in the area trying to cut across the front of Chris Smalling, who had grabbed a piece of his shirt.

After weathering the early storm Saints gained a real foothold in the game and stunned Old Trafford by opening the scoring on 26 minutes with an absolute stunner from Valery with his first senior goal.

The Frenchman collected the ball deep but with United unwilling to press him opted to take on a right footed shot from 25 yards out that was so sweetly struck. David De Gea got fingertips to it but couldn’t prevent it from rocketing into the top corner at his near post.

The goal sprung United back into life and only a slight touch from Marcus Rashford took the ball away from waiting teammate Lukaku who looked set to finish from eight yards out.

Lukaku threatened again moments later but couldn’t make a clean contact to head home Pereira’s right wing cross.

United came even closer on 40 minutes as Chris Smalling directed a header from Ashley Young’s corner towards goal but the ball hit the post and Saints managed to get it clear.

Bertrand appealed for another penalty before half time as he went down with Young’s arms over him but again Atwell was unmoved.

Ward-Prowse had the ball in the net via a sizeable deflection three minutes into the second half but the whistle had already gone for a foul by Austin in the build-up.

United saw Alexis Sanchez limp off injured but his replacement, Diogo Dalot, produced a superb cross to find Rashford at the far post where he headed wide.

However, it was only a temporary reprieve for Saints as United scored twice in six minutes to turn the game on its head.

They levelled on 53 minutes via another stunning strike, this time Pereira opening up his body and curling a right footed shot from 25 yards into the top corner.

The turnaround was complete on 59 minutes as United made it 2-1.

Pereira fed the ball through to Lukaku with Saints appealing for offside and the striker cut across onto his right foot before curling a superb finish across Gunn and into the far corner.

Saints were not done though and scored an equaliser of their own on 75 minutes.

It was yet another stunning strike, this time from Ward-Prowse who curled a right footed free kick up and over the wall and into the near top corner.

But there was late heartbreak for Saints as United grabbed the winner two minutes from time.

He reacted quickly to a loose ball to spin off of Jan Bednarek and shoot from the edge of the area, whipping it into the bottom corner.

Saints conceded a penalty deep into stoppage time as Stuart Armstrong kicked the back of Rashford’s leg in the area.

Pogba stepped up but it was an awful spot kick, straight down the middle with little power and Gunn was able to make the save with his trailing leg.

However, it made no difference to the destination of the three points as Saints came away with nothing despite having given so much.