Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Paul Scholes for keeping
Manchester United's Barclays Premier League title hopes
alive.
Scholes scored in the third minute of injury time to settle the
Manchester derby at Eastlands 1-0 in United's favour and keep the
reigning champions in sight of leaders Chelsea.
Ferguson said the title would have been out of sight had United
been held to a draw. He told Sky Sports: "It would have been
very, very difficult if we had not won. "I think we deserved
to win the match, no question, but I couldn't see a goal
coming.
"I decided to put Scholes a bit further forward and it paid
off. "He was man of the match, he was wonderful, he's such a
skilful player."
Ferguson also paid tribute to the influence of Ryan Giggs and
Gary Neville. He added: "The experience in these games in
definitely important and can be vital in helping other players as
well as their own contribution."
Neville said United needed a positive result
after the disappointment of their Champions League exit.
He added: "We were hoping for something as we had not had a
great two weeks. Scholesy had passed them to death all day and
gives us a little bit of life. "We just have to hope someone
does us a favour."
Scholes' performance in midfield had helped United dominate the
match in a game of few chances.
Scholes said: "I think we were the team
pressing to try to score and fortunately we were lucky enough to
win the game with not much time left. "It's nice to win any
game against City and away from home especially."
City boss Roberto Mancini said he was "angry
and disappointed".
Mancini said: "That's football, it's incredible, but for us it
doesn't change anything, we have another four games.
"We are very disappointed to lose and I'm very angry but always
positive. "We had some chances and we didn't deserve to lose
but that's football.
"We played a good game but it was difficult for us and United,
and when Scholes scored in the last few seconds it was unlucky.
"This doesn't change the situation for fourth place - the
crucial match will be against Tottenham here."
