Fergie praise for performance

Sir Alex Ferguson praised his Man Utd side for their battling attitude after drawing 2-2 with Middlesbrough. The Scottish coach would've preferred a victory as Chelsea have now moved within three points of the top; but Fergie believes the performance by his players was outstanding on Sunday.

"I think that's a fair result," Ferguson quipped. "We could have lost the game and there were periods in the second half where we had to change the back four and we could have lost two or three goals.

"But the nature of our club is we never give in and that's a marvellous quality to have at this time of year and they proved that again today.

"They're not going to give up at any stage of any game without a fight, and they never did, and they could have won it.

"I think you have to give some credit to our opponents today, they played very well. I thought it was a fantastic game of football. The pace of the game was marvellous, it was a really good game and you have got to give credit to our opponents."