Ferguson proud of comeback

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson hailed his side’s dramatic 4-3 win over Newcastle as ‘absolutely unbelievable’.

Despite trailing on three separate occasions at Old Trafford, Ferguson’s side staged a typical fightback, with late goals from Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez giving them a crucial three points.

Newcastle were denied by the woodwork twice and were desperately unlucky not to earn at least a point on Boxing Day, but the fighting quality of Manchester United came to the fore again.

Their triumph, coupled with title rivals Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Sunderland, means United top the English Premier League table by seven points at the halfway mark of the season.

Ferguson was not worried about the moves at the top of the league after the crazy win, preferring to sing the praises of his players after Hernandez’s late winner.

“Never mind where we are at this moment in time,” Ferguson said.

“That was a championship performance tonight – absolutely unbelievable.

“Once again they’ve proved their courage, they never gave in, we were down three times and came back three times and eventually they deserved to win the game.

“The third goal (to Newcastle) was a killer to us. I couldn’t believe it. The third goal was a kick in the teeth. But they (Manchester United) never gave in, that’s the quality and they kept making chances.

“If you keep making them, you’re bound to score some of them. And eventually we did.”

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was understandably gutted after his side’s narrow defeat.

Newcastle – who led 2-1 at half-time – were excellent going forward but lapses at the back were costly as their poor run of form continued.

“I just felt the whole game we had a goal in us,” Pardew said.

“Whatever the score was I thought we could score again. And I said to the players at half-time, you have to expect that Man United will score so we need to have the same attitude in the second half, which we did.

“To come away with nothing in terms of the way we played offensively was disappointing.

“We’ve hit the post at 3-3, we’ve hit the bar today. And we’ve still come away with nothing.

“And I think my frustration is with my team because defensively we should have done a lot better today, regardless of being at Man United and the history and tradition of the place and late finishes and all that, we should have got something today – 100 percent.”