Blackpool 2 United 3

United moved five points clear of the chasing pack in the Barclays Premier League title race, but this was a far from straightforward three points as the Reds had to come back from a two-goal deficit and a below-par performance for almost 70 minutes of this clash at Bloomfield Road.

‘Chicharito’ struck the equaliser with 15 minutes remaining but once again it was Dimitar Berbatov who did the damage for United tapping home his side’s first just two minutes earlier before driving home his 20th goal of the season – and his fifth in four days – to send The Reds five points clear of their rivals

United had to survive 10 minutes of injury-time due to a nasty looking collision involving Rafael and Marlon Harewood, which saw the Brazilian defender stretchered off with the support of a neck brace.

Ferguson reserved special praise for goalscorers Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov, the former of whom came on as a substitute for the disappointing Wayne Rooney.

Of Hernandez, Ferguson said: "His pace and timing of the runs is fantastic. He's so good at that. He could have scored four goals. He's made a tremendous impact.

"[Dimitar's] having a great season. He has great talent. The third goal, the composure, I was screaming for him to square it to Chicharito but, no, he has the confidence and ability to do what he did."

Berbatov, who is the Premier League's top scorer, claimed he was always confident his side would come back to win.

"We're always confident that if we can score one we can score more and that was the case today," he said. "We fight like a team. In the second half we showed spirit and we won.

"You come here, it's not a friendly ground. The pitch is not as ours back home at Old Trafford. Blackpool played a very good game and scored goals, they could easily have scored more in the first half. In the end it was the team spirit that won the game."

Sir Alex’s men were far from at their best in Blackpool – certainly not reaching the heights of the win over Birmingham - but the last 20 minutes at least is the other side to United; a resilient, relentless United that just will not give up.