Boss Salutes Wide-awake Reds

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his side's lightning start to the second half provided the platform for victory over Fulham.

After a frustrating first period in which Fulham stifled the Reds' attacking play and provided scares at the other end, Wayne Rooney needed under 30 seconds of the second period to turn in Nani's cross and end the Cottagers' stubborn resolve.

"Fulham made us work because they've got good possession of the ball, they have composure and experience on the ball and they made us chase all over the pitch, particularly in the first half," Sir Alex told MUTV.

"We had some good pieces of play in the first half and their goalkeeper made some fantastic saves, but we had to speed up the play. Murphy and Baird were completely in control in midfield and we had to hurry them up and make the game a bit quicker. The start to the second half was crucial and we got a good one to put us in a good position. After that our confidence grew."

While Rooney's opener was the all-important goal, his second strike six minutes from the end of normal time was the most aesthetically pleasing for the United manager - not least for the approach work by Dimitar Berbatov, who rounded off the scoring late on.

"The second was the star goal really," he said. "The work by Berbatov was fantastic football and he just laid it on a plate for Wayne, who took it well. He (Berbatov) is intelligent, he has good composure on the ball and he adds to the team all the time. The making of the second goal was absolutely superb. It was very important (for him to score later), because he had a few opportunities, but he took one, and that's important."