His cool strike prompted manager Sir Alex Ferguson to hail the Norwegian hitman as ‘‘the best substitute ever’’.

Solskjaer has never liked his super-sub tag and simply wants to be known as a great striker.

‘‘I don’t want to be known as being a good substitute. I want to play from the start and everyone wants to do that,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s been a while since I scored so I just thought if I am going to come on I have to try and score a goal and fortunately it went in.

‘‘When you come on the others have had 70 minutes of hard work behind them but I’m fresh so when the ball comes to you you just have to keep your concentration.’’

Despite Solskjaer’s goals for United he is still not a regular in their attack.

Most other strikers would have knocked on the manager’s door long ago if faced with a similar situation but Solskjaer just accepts it.

He has no complaints about Ferguson’s selection policy and knows players must be rotated because of their many fixtures.

Solskjaer said: ‘‘I think I’ve shown before my loyalty and my patience. The manager is always right. He picks the team that he thinks can win each game.

‘‘I’ve never complained about any of the manager’s decisions because everyone knows his record.

‘‘I think there is competition everywhere at the four or five best clubs in every country.

‘‘I don’t think any team has 11 players playing all the games and you need a big squad if you want to be in Europe, in the FA Cup and the Premier League. So you have to accept that you are not going to play in every game.’’