Sir Alex Ferguson was as relieved as anyone to hear the final
whistle at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, having watched his
side make hard work of a 2-0 win over Reading.
Wayne Rooney scored 13 minutes from time, with Cristiano Ronaldo
adding a second in injury time. But it was by no means comfortable,
Reading caused United problems all afternoon and never gave
in.
By the end we were quite happy to get through it, admitted Sir
Alex afterwards.
Considering the number of opportunities we had, maybe our
decision-making in the final third of the field wasnt at its best.
We kept making chances, but you do start to worry when the game
goes on and you havent scored.
You worry whether youre going to get the goal, and it took a
lovely flick from Wayne to get us in front. Credit to Reading they
kept going at us. They really do make you work.
Both sides set out with an attacking agenda, which made for an
end-to-end encounter.
It was a really open match, added Sir Alex. It really needed an
early goal, which could have led to a lot of goals in that game. We
got the goal at the right time and managed to hold on to get
through.
I wasnt sure how Reading were going to approach it. When I saw
their line-up I knew they were going gung-ho. The opportunities
they had, they had a go for it.
Kitson gave us a lot of problems, but in the main it was down to
our own attacking play, which wasnt at its best today. With a bit
more care in the last third we would maybe have scored
more.
