There were at least two people in the 42,000 crowd inside Villa Park on Sunday that would not have been surprised to see Scott McTominay pop up with the winning goal.

John McGinn, his Scotland team-mate, has known for months now just what a goalscoring threat the Manchester United man is. He’s not United’s top scorer in the Premier League by accident.

‘He is so athletic and he gets in the box and hits the ball harder than anyone I have ever played with,’ Villa captain McGinn said of McTominay previously.

There was no slowing down with his winner at Villa, a bullet header from Diogo Dalot’s cross that takes his tally to seven in the Premier League this season. Single-handily he’s contributed to 12 points won for United.

Scott McTominay has risen to the challenge of being Manchester United’s super sub

McTominay came on as a second half substitute and headed United to a 2-1 victory over Villa

Villa star John McGinn said McTominay ‘hits the ball harder than anyone I’ve ever played with’ 

The other person unsurprised to see McTominay thriving is that of his manager Erik ten Hag, someone who was more than happy to send the Scot packing as recent as last summer. He’s indispensable now. Funny how things turn.

‘Nowadays players who are subs are moaning and complaining and of course Scott is disappointed,’ Ten Hag said, ‘but he’s ready for every minute and we have to credit him for this mentality. He’s an example for all the other players. I love it.’

Sources at United speak of McTominay’s desire to prove himself every single day, even in the face of being recast as a super-sub since his last league start on December 23, then in a 2-0 defeat to West Ham.

There is a fire inside the 27-year-old, a ‘fiery’ side by his own admission, that after more than a year of working together, Ten Hag now knows how to light on a routine basis for maximum results.

Earlier in the season at Old Trafford, with United down 1-0 to Brentford, McTominay stood alongside Ten Hag on the touchline and the message was short and sweet: ‘Go on and show yourself, show why you should be playing.’

McTominay went ahead and scored a brace to win United the game and significantly ease the pressure on Ten Hag’s job.

Emerging through at United under Jose Mourinho, there has been a nagging sense that McTominay has long been miscast as a defensive midfielder when he operates better further forward.

Scotland boss Steve Clarke was the first to make the change, pushing McTominay towards a more natural No 10 role, and Ten Hag was quick to follow suit, at least off the bench. The results have spoken for themselves.

McTominay emerged at United under Jose Mourinho (right) and it was the Portuguese manager who instilled in him a self belief that he carries to this day under Ten Hag

McTominay’s position change with Scotland, pushed further forward, has been a revelation

After one conversation with Clarke late last year where his national team boss told him to ‘think about football as you did as a child’, something clicked in McTominay’s mind. He went and scored four goals in the two games that followed that conversation.

For now it’s United reaping the rewards of his goalscoring touch – but that doesn’t mean McTominay isn’t still fuelled by a self-doubt that has plagued him since he spent two years as a teenager in United’s academy without kicking a single ball.

‘Whenever you’re not playing, you can’t take it too personally,’ he told the High Performance Podcast last month. ‘At points, I did. I thought ‘whatever’.

The Scot is fuelled by the knowledge that if he gets complacent United will go out and sign a replacement, and it was what deterred him from giving up amid talk of an exit last summer

He now has a big smile on his face and Ten Hag is in ‘love’ with McTominay’s mentality

‘It’s one of the most challenging times in your career. But when you aren’t in the team you have to be aware of the group you’re in – it’s not always about me, me, me. You have to be conscious that every player wants to play every game and when you are given the opportunity to play you have to take it.

‘It’s self doubt, you always have to prove yourself or they will go and get someone that is better. You have to prove that hopefully they are not and you are the one who helps the team as much as possible moving forward. I genuinely feel like that, prove yourself in every training session.’

No player has scored more goals off the bench than McTominay this season; no player has scored more goals for United in the Premier League than McTominay; and 30 per cent of United’s total points this season can be accounted for by McTominay.

McGinn’s wish for his compatriot to slow down doesn’t seem like coming true anytime soon.