Rio Ferdinand says the talent in Uniteds squad means he was
always confident the Reds would strike the killer blow against
Reading.
United missed a glut of chances at the Madejski Stadium, and it
took until the 77th minute for Wayne Rooney to put the Reds in
front.
Rio and his defensive team-mates managed to pick up an 18th clean
sheet of the season, but he insists his faith in Uniteds forwards
never wavered.
You start wondering [whether youll score], but in the last
fifteen minutes we always knew wed get three or four more
chances, he told MUTV.
With the talent weve got, you keep thinking well score the next
one. Rooney and Ronaldo, who have been doing so well for us
lately, managed to put the ball in the back of the net.
Getting a clean sheet is important, because if we do that then we
know were going to have the chance to win the game. That was one
of the main things for us today, keeping a clean sheet.
We had a lot of opportunities in the first half, but we didnt put
them away. In the second half it followed a similar pattern, but we
managed to get two goals later in the game.
We were lucky that we got that today, but I think we created
enough to chances [to deserve it].
Reading certainly made United work for the victory, and it took a
moment of class to undo Steve Coppells side.
That was probably the hardest game weve had all season, Rio
added. Reading worked us very hard. They pushed us all over the
pitch and we had to battle for our three points today.
For Waynes goal, the ball in from Carlos was exquisite. He picked
out Wazza, and he stretched his leg out and managed to guide it
past the keeper. I think he took the keeper by surprise with how
early he hit it, it was a great goal.
Uniteds title rivals Chelsea and Arsenal also earned hard-fought
away wins on Saturday. Chelsea beat Birmingham 1-0, while Arsenal
defeated Fulham 3-0.
All three of us could have dropped points, said Rio, but weve
all won. Were just pleased with our result. Weve not conceded a
goal and weve won the game.