United striker Billy Sharp said that we went to bed the night before Saturday's game hoping that he’d be the man to score the winner in his first game for his new club.

It was in the 88th minute that Sharp pounced onto a mistake by Middlesbrough keeper Tomas Mejias to give his new side all three points and Billy thanked his teammates for giving him the chance to score.

“I roomed with Stuart Taylor on the Friday night and I said to him how I’d like that to happen and luckily for me the lads grinded out a chance for me and I was happy to take it,” explained the striker.

“I was beating myself up for the headed chance that I missed about five minutes before so I have to thank the lads for keeping going and then Tongey for having that great shot.

“I just had a feeling that the keeper was going to drop one and I managed to get on this one and tap it in from two yards.

“I’m delighted to get through the 90 minutes as well because it was tough. I’m pleased for the lads because they worked really hard and we got the three points that we thoroughly deserved.

“This is a superb club and the fans are obviously amazing. They made a big cheer when I scored and I just wanted to show them how delighted I was.“

VIDEO: DREAM DEBUT FOR BILLY

Having signed for the club on Wednesday afternoon the striker only had two training sessions with his new teammates and he says he has been made to feel welcome.

“There are a lot of good characters in the changing room,” he said. “I knew of lot of the lads before I came which helped, but saying that everyone has made me feel very welcome.

“It surprises me that they got beat 2-0 a week earlier with the way they performed on Saturday. If we can play like that most weeks we’ll get a lot of points.

“I think Middlesbrough are a really good side and I think they will be up the top end of the table. To beat them at home and come away with a cleansheet is a really good result for us.”

VIDEO: BILLY SHARP ON DEBUT GOAL

United are back at Elland Road on Tuesday night for the visit of Brighton (7.45pm) and Billy says the squad as a whole are looking to make their home a fortress.

“The gaffer has said that we need to make this place our own,” said Sharp. “This is our stadium and we need to make sure that people are in a game when they come here.

“Middlesbrough were in a game on Saturday. I’m going to be biased but I thought we deserved the three points on Saturday and I’m really pleased for the lads.  

“We have got to recover right now. We have got a few days before we go again with another tough game. Brighton are a good footballing side but if we can play like we did on Saturday we’ll do well.”