Boss Relieved As Reds Go Top

Sir Alex Ferguson felt a mix of delight and relief after seeing his side eke out a vital 1-0 victory over Wolves which sent the Reds two points clear of Chelsea at the Barclays Premier League summit.

The United boss was pleased with his players’ commitment throughout a tough battle against Mick McCarthy’s men which was eventually decided by Paul Scholes’ 100th league goal for the Reds. But Sir Alex admitted his side were afforded a large slice of good fortune when Wolves striker Sam Vokes blazed over in injury time.

“I feared the worst,” the manager told MUTV. “It’s one of those chances you always hope you get in a game, but thankfully he didn’t take it. It’s a difficult place to come to; when you come up against teams at the bottom you know they’re going to fight very hard. But I think we played the best football and deserved it - it’s an important victory for us and it’s good to tick another away game off the list.

“The form of the team has been good,” he added. “We’re managing without players from time to time. It’s the first time the back four had played together for 18 months. That tells you about the squad strength we have which is important at this time of year.”

Having struggled to create any clear-cut chances for over an hour at Molineux, Sir Alex was happy to see United’s first real opening drop to one of his veteran performers.

“Scholesy is a marvellous player and for a midfielder to score 100 goals is an outstanding achievement,” declared the manager. “The way we play him now, sitting a bit deeper, it sometimes takes away that goal threat we always got from him as a young player. I’m just glad the opportunity fell to him because he was the best player to have it.”