From a position already several inches higher than any of the surrounding defenders, up rose the sizeable form of Benjamin Sesko. He made firm contact and directed the ball goalwards. The crowd waited in expectation for the net to ripple. But his header lacked proper direction, looped upwards and landed on the top of the goal.
It was a good chance at a time when Manchester United needed a finish against Burnley. But it went unconverted.
A few minutes later, Diogo Dalot burst down the wing and found his new colleague lurking in the middle of the area. If anything, this time the 22-year-old Slovenian was even better positioned and the ball was right on his forehead rather than slightly behind him. But his connection was wholly unconvincing, his header went nowhere near the goal, spinning off towards the corner flag.
With United needing a goal this was not a convincing cameo from their new signing, who had come on as a substitute for Casemiro with more than an hour played.
Buried deep in the collective memory at Old Trafford they recall the time Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick on his debut. They remember Ruud van Nistelrooy on his home debut hitting the net. They recollect Robin van Persie giving immediate notice that he was the answer to the previous season’s lack of goals when he struck on his first game at the stadium against Fulham. And here was Sesko, at the very point he had to make a difference, failing to do so.
If that seems harsh on the young man, who has had little game time since he arrived in Manchester, it is merely a reflection of the expectation that is heaped on a player carrying such a sizeable transfer fee.
He was bought for nearly £75m not to come close, not to do well to get his head on a cross, but to put the ball in the net. And not, as he did between his two fluffed chances against Burnley, stumble when the ball was played to him in the centre circle and surrender possession.
Ruben Amorim spent much of last season looking at Rasmus Hojlund and concluding he was not up to the task of leading the line. It was a characteristic of United’s disastrous campaign that when there were slow motion replays of chances created, almost always there was Hojlund labouring into position, arriving just too late, his face a picture of frustration.
Here was a player who was the antithesis of United’s finest-ever finisher Denis Law, a forward never in the right place at the right time. Now Hojlund has been offloaded to Napoli and Sesko has been bought as an upgrade.
Benjamin Sesko has struggled since arriving at Manchester United.
But there he was on Wednesday against Grimsby labouring against a fourth-tier defence, a forward taking the 10th penalty in that long, dramatic shoot-out. Now here he was against Burnley, brought on with his team needing goals in the last few minutes. For his manager, it is all a matter of match fitness.
“He finished the game with cramps, really at the limit, that’s why we protected him from the penalties,” said Amorim. “And during the pre-season he didn’t do 90 minutes. This is all connected, that is why we protected him today.”
United’s fans must be concerned that they have not seen anything as yet from the new man to elicit much in the way of enthusiasm for when he is fit. So far on the ball he looks more Wout Weghorst than Van Nistelrooy, a big lad deceptively poor in the air and slow in the turn.
Amorim knows he needs his forward to start firing and soon. While Mbeumo, who had a fine game against Burnley, constantly threatening both to create chances and take them, has hit the ground running in his new side, Sesko remains a work in need of much progress.
The sooner he demonstrates that these early pictures of him lumbering and labouring are uncharacteristic, the sooner he starts putting his headers on target and ensuring that he controls the ball with his back to goal, the sooner the pressure will ease.