Manchester: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson seemed relieved and delighted after his side managed to beat a plucky Bolton Wanderes 1-0 at Old Trafford courtesy of an 88th minute winner from substitute Dimitar Berbatov.
The match was a frustrating one from United's perspective with Bolton defending brilliantly, particularly Gary Cahill, and it looked like it just wasn’t to be their day, but in true Manchester United fashion, they eventually got the winner in the dying minutes, despite being reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes to go.
Leaving it late is something that Ferguson is probably used to by now, but the Scot doesn't believe it is luck, but it is down to his players' mentality and the fans.
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Ferguson said: "You’ve got to admire the character they've got. They never give in, but the fans were fantastic.
"I think they rammed it home the fans. I thought they really got up for it in the last 20 minutes, it was fantastic.
"But the players take great credit because you've got to remember that the last five games have been two European ties against Marseille, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
"It's fantastic. One hell of a programme that.
"And they've come through that top of the league, in the quarter final of the Champions League and the semi final of the FA Cup. They deserve all the credit they get – fantastic.
"We've made a lot of changes, you know, we ended up with 10 men today, so full marks to them."
The former Aberdeen manager was disappointed with the red card handed out to Jonny Evans believing that the tackle the defender made was fair, but he admitted he couldn’t have too many complaints considering the Northern Ireland international's foot was off the ground.
"Well I’ve watched it again. Jonny's foot is not necessarily high, but he's off the ground, he's slid in," he added.
"I think it was a fair tackle, a fair attempt to get the ball and the other player [Stuart Holden] equally so, but he's got a bad gash the player and in that situation I think the referee has seen the injury and then given him the red card.
"A little bit unfortunate, but if the foot is off the ground you really don't have 100 per cent claim for complaint."
Despite winning, and completely dominating the second half, United went in at half-time with the scores goalless after an unimpressive opening, but the Scot believed they were much better in the second half as his team were getting shots away.
He continued: "I think we were pedantic, slow in our build up. Second half we were much better.
"We had a lot of strikes at goal. Nani's had two or three great strikes. The goalkeeper played his part of course with a few saves.
"We didn't really have any trouble from Bolton, the matter was could we break them down, that was really the key to it and we've managed to do it."
The two half-time substitutions certainly seemed to make an impact with Fabio da Silva looking far more effective than Wes Brown, and Berbatov always looking dangerous up front.
The Bulgarian, who leads the Premier League goal-scoring charts with 20 goals, has only started one of United's last six matches, but it wasn't just his technical ability he was called upon for, but also his physique.
Ferguson concluded: "I think that because we had to take Wes Brown off we lacked height so we had to bring [Dimitar] Berbatov on because he’s got that height and unfortunately young Chicharito had to be sacrificed for him."
The win, coupled with Arsenal's draw at West Brom, means United have extended their lead at the top of the table to five points, although they have played one game more than the Gunners.
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