Fergie backs United recovery
08 Jan 2009 - 08:34:13
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that his side had been lucky to escape with a 1-0 defeat at Derby County in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final.
A Kris Commons cracker separates the two sides going into the Old Trafford return, with Ferguson hopeful that the Rams have missed their chance to take total charge of the tie.
He said: "We could have lost by more. It's a fantastic result for us considering the performance, we just didn't play well.
"We were lucky. We were so bad that Derby will rue the fact they didn't score more.
"In any semi final you hope to give yourself that breathing space, but we expect to recover a 1-0 deficit against anyone at Old Trafford and I am sure we will."
"I think we were over-worried about their crossing and set-piece play and I think we looked a bit panicky at the back. We normally can deal with that very well, but we didn't do that.
"We could have lost four goals, so 1-0 is a great result for us and it gives us a fantastic chance now at Old Trafford."