Fergie hails Valencia as United go five points clear of City
Published 23:09 02/04/12 By David Maddock
Valencia and Ashley Young served up a double-A performance to keep Manchester United on course for a 20th crown.
Blackburn 0-2 Man United: Daily Mirror match report
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“Coming so late in the game that goal is so important, and it perhaps typifies the history of this club in a way in that we kept going and got our reward in the end. It could be a very important moment,” he explained.
“When he fired in that shot, the thing is, if you don’t try to shoot then you never know if you can score. Whether it was a cross or a shot it doesn’t matter because it was hit with such incredible power – and that is why it was so important.
“It was a long night, we had to persevere and persevere and we got out reward in the end, but I have to admit that I thought for a long time it wouldn’t come because we didn’t make many clear cut chances.”
The goal, swiftly followed by another classy finish from sub Young, now makes Fergie’s men overwhelming favourites for the league, and the Old Trafford manager admitted it could be a defining moment in their battle with neighbours City.
United are five points clear of their great local rivals, and this win sets them up for the chance to actually be crowned champions at the Etihad Stadium when the two clubs meet on April 30.
Blackburn defended superbly and even threatened a shock as they forced David De Gea into a string of saves that again had his United boss offering rare praise.
“The thing with Blackburn is they always possess a goal threat, and I have to admit David De Gea kept us in it, with some brilliant saves,” he added.
“I don’t think we had enough threat going forward because we had to be solid in midfield, but Ryan Giggs and Ashley Young gave us more going forward when they came on and it made a big difference.”
Even though Ferguson clearly has that feeling of history-making again, he refused to declare the title race over, even after last night’s crucial victory, and he said:
“We’ve still got seven games left and my experience of these situations is that it doesn’t matter what points total you have got at this point, the important thing now is to win Sunday’s game.
“It could still come down to goal difference you know, and we’ve scored more goals now which could be really significant. We were 18 goals behind City at one point but we are just one behind now and that is a very big thing for us.”
Rovers boss Steve Kean saw his side drop into the bottom three but believes they showed enough to suggest they are capable of avoiding the drop.
"If we can play at that standard for next seven games - not for 80 mins but 90 - we'll get plenty of wins," he said.
"We've got to take all the positives out of the first 80 minutes. We've got to set that standard.
"We were playing against the potential champions.
"I think for 80 minutes we gave it a really good go. Their goalkeeper has had a very good night. He's made good saves when we've had our little opportunities.
"I thought (Junior) Hoilett and Yakubu caused them problems."
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