Sir Alex Praises Crowd

Sir Alex Ferguson admits his players put him through the wringer in the closing stages of the 2-1 win against Chelsea.

The boss watched on anxiously, along with the home supporters, after Frank Lampard reduced the deficit as Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez spurned glorious chances to kill the reigning champions off.

There were few genuine scares, although substitute Fernando Torres lined up one shot inside the area only to fire wide of Edwin van der Sar's goal with time running out.

"We kept missing chances and it gave them a lifeline all the time," the boss explained to MUTV.

"We should have had them out of sight, to be honest. But it's the nature of Manchester United. We do it all the time, take it to the wire and give the poor souls in that stand heart-attacks and have them sitting on the edge of their seats, biting their nails. I was one of them!"

"The supporters were magnificent in the last 10 to 15 minutes in particular, when we needed them. The fans lifted the boys and got us over the line."