Joy For John

John O'Shea was hugely satisfied with a goal on his 350th United appearance and paid tribute to its creator, Ryan Giggs, whose cameo second half display turned the game in United's favour.

It was the Welshman's right wing free-kick which O'Shea rose to head past Thomas Sorensen in the Stoke goal, having earlier set up Dimitar Berbatov to open the scoring.

"Giggsy's experience of taking up different positions and taking advantage of any gaps proved crucial," O'Shea told MUTV. "The great run he made for the first goal was him all over. The way he used his experience to get on the blind side of the defender was brilliant.

"I was really pleased to score especially against a team who are so strong on set pieces.

"It was a great ball in from Giggsy - I said to him I'd try and get across the keeper - and thankfully I was able to knock it in."

The victory was United's seventh on the trot in all competitions since the shock defeat at Burnley and, alongside Chelsea's loss at the DW Stadium, took them top of table. And O'Shea keeping that fine run going is the only thing on the players' minds.

"We knew we had to put a good run together after the Burnley defeat which was a freak result," he explained."We've always responded well to results like that with a great run of victories, but the games keep on coming and we've got to keep that run going."