Manchester United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick hailed Marcus Rashford as “one of the top strikers in England” after the substitute scored a stoppage-time winner against West Ham United on Saturday. It was Rashford’s second goal in as many games following a barren run of matches that saw him go 11 without scoring.

“Marcus is one of the top strikers in England and has everything you need for a modern forward — pace, skills, size and physicality,” said Rangnick.

“In the end it is all about confidence and I am pretty sure those two goals will have raised his confidence. It’s now about him taking the right steps and continuing. I think he will play an important role for the rest of the season.”

The 24-year-old Rashford finished off a slick team move with the last play of the game, tapping home from Edinson Cavani’s low cross. The 1-0 win lifted United into fourth with 38 points from 22 games.

Asked if “Fergie Time” was now “Ralfie Time”, Rangnick added: “I don’t know how long ‘Fergie Time’ was. Was that the last five minutes? I wouldn’t mind if that happened.

“But we would also like to have more games like Brentford when we were 3-0 up. But if you score in the last seconds the big advantage is there is no time for the team to reply.”

Rangnick branded the win as “massive” in the race for the top four. “The atmosphere (in the dressing room) is amazing,” said Rangnick. “Quite rightly the boys were celebrating. They know what a massive win this was.

“The red army’s support during the game was amazing. I can only say thank you to all the fans. It’s always good but today was massive.”