Edwin Enjoys Return

United’s defence may have been breached on Edwin van der Sar’s return to first-team action, but the Dutch stopper enjoyed his first run-out of the season.

“When you come back you always want to keep a clean sheet,” he admitted. “But the most important thing is the three points and we hung on today and deserved the win. I enjoyed the game and it was good to get another victory.”

Van der Sar’s goalmouth came under intense pressure in the closing stages, as Bolton threw everything at the Reds. But the 38-year-old stopper says the game should have been put to bed long before Matthew Taylor’s goal gave the visitors hope of snatching a point.

“For long periods we were the better team and created the most chances,” he told MUTV. “Jussi Jaaskelainen played spectacularly again and pulled off some fantastic saves.

“At 2-0 the game wasn’t over and Bolton scored a scrappy goal – we didn’t defend well on that one. We didn’t panic but the game should have been done and dusted. Instead, we were left to fight to hold onto the lead. We had to dig a bit deeper than we maybe expected after 50 or 60 minutes.”

Van der Sar is expected to keep his place in goal for United’s trip to Russia on Wednesday, where he hopes to keep CSKA Moscow at bay in the Luzhniki Stadium. Also key to that will be Rio Ferdinand, who’s come under fire from some quarters after recent errors. But van der Sar is backing the England international to regain his finest form.

“Rio’s a strong character and an excellent player. Of course sometimes you go through a bad patch but that doesn’t affect Rio. He and I have to make sure we get that good understanding back that we had last year and I’m sure we’ll be solid again.”