Meanwhile on 606 some pratt claiming to be an Arsenal fan was complaining that Henry had done nothing in the game but score. Ha ha I split my sides, oh gawd where do they get them? Apart from a helping hand in van Persie’s goal, and scoring the winner he did nothing? Well a bit more nothing like that and it will be brilliant. True Henry wasn’t always in the game, but then he hardly spurned a bucketful of chances. Try using the word Mercurial mate it might sum up the situation more effectively than the word nothing. And remember greatness is as greatness does. If it was Zidane you would be kissing his arse.

This was not Arsenal at their best, they were missing Gilberto, it meant the defence’s clearances were not mitigated by Silva’s interventions. It also meant that the rest of the midfield were finding it hard to link up. There were no great one-twos between Hleb and Rosicky, and even Fabregas was struggling to find the killer ball. The tempo was not good, but in spite of all that, and a slow first fifteen minutes, Arsenal dominated the first half until the last five minutes when Lehmann was forced to make great saves from Rooney and Larsson. Nonetheless, over the whole match Arsenal had 18 shots to Man U’s nine.

I thought Riley was awful, but his replacement Steve Bennett was even worse. He booked Toure for hardly anything and then ignored several Manchester United crude tackles that were far worse. Indeed there were attempts to intimidate Fabregas, but Bennett ignored it all- including, what appeared to me, a definite penalty for Henry. Eventually Man U fouling was so blatant that he was forced to award them three yellows. When the teams went in at half-time the non-awarded penalty, and Henry’s failure to score from a free header could have seen the Gunners 2-0 up, but the score was 0-0.

However by the start of the second half Man U were counter attacking the Gunners. When Rooney scored it was hardly surprising for the Man U midfield was moving the ball with far more speed and skill, not that the Arsenal defence did that badly overall. It was Rooney’s first goal for 13 games – sods iron law that his drought would end against Arsenal. The Gunners seemed stunned by the Manchester 53 third minute goal, and made little headway for the next twenty minutes. Meanwhile Man U fans were celebrating and giving it large. I don’t know about Wenger but I couldn’t see where the equaliser was coming from, indeed I feared the Gunners would go further behind.

Indeed by 70 minutes a sense of despair could be felt around the ground, it seemed as if Man U would become the first victors at Arsenal’ new stadium mainly by wasting time and protecting their one goal lead. But Wenger could see the future more clearly than us mere mortals in the stands.

Apparently Wenger had told the team that Man U would try and close the game down after 70 minutes, and perhaps run out of steam (I wish he had told me). But just in case they didn’t he made an important substitution on 67 minutes; van Persie came on for Hleb, but nothing very much seemed to change. Then on 79 minutes he brought on the Beast. With only seven minutes left at last things changed, Fabregas got more and more into the game, and it was his determination in winning the ball that gave Rosicky the chance to cross the ball for RvP.

As I peered over the fans in front of me the angle appeared too acute for it to be a goal. Thank heavens it was van the man at the post, as only he could have belted the ball into the top of the net in such a deadly fashion. The fans went wild – the cheers were immense, Man U were not going to breach fortress Arsenal.

Now Arsenal took risks, not satisfied with a draw they went all out for victory. I must admit feeling nervous, would the Gunners fall for another sucker punch and let Manchester back into the game?

But Alex was too concerned with protecting the draw, replacing Ronaldo with Heinze on 90 minutes. United were now two minutes away from their coup de grace. In the final 120 seconds, ironically a result of United’s time wasting, Eboue’s inch perfect cross allowed Henry to score with the perfect header. The stadium went wild, it was like a thunderclap, it was mayhem, fans were shouting, screaming and jumping up and down. The normally staid group around me were hugging everyone in sight, shaking hands, and cheering. I have never heard a noise as loud, not even at Highbury, meanwhile the Red Devils’ fans disappeared faster than David Blaine, which still gave us time to jeer their departing backs. Gunners were cheering, jeering and gloating at the one and same time.

Oh last minute victories are so special, especially when you have almost given up hope, especially when it’s at the expense of Salford Yankee fans. I remember how they taunted us when they beat us 4-2 two years ago. This time they had given it large for 30 minutes, the equaliser had quietened them down a bit, but with the winner you heard the air go out of them. Glorious.

At the end of the game Henry came to celebrate with the North Bank, only a small number had left early and I wont call them fans, not to insult them, but because I don’t believe they are fans, just suits on a day trip. Real fans stayed in their thousands to cheer and celebrate. No real fan would have missed that moment when the stadium saw its first real chapter of history written.