FERGIE POST MATCH

Goal drought over

"We scored goals which has been a particular problem for us this season, I don't understand why because with the players we have we should have scored more, but we have missed a lot of chances. You have to be able to score important goals at important times and the goal at half time was very, very important in terms of the result of the match. I think if the pitch hadn't have chewed up towards the end we would have scored more. It got really tacky and sticky and there was a great counter-attack threat during the game because Newcastle we trying to win the match. It was a no win situation, they had to go for it and by going for it they were open to counter-attack all the time. We defended well, obviously playing against Shearer and Ameobi is a handful. I think in the end we handled that quite well.

"We're all absolutely delighted in the dressing room. That was a real centre-forward's display today, the best in the world. He's just the same as the rest, he's subject to goals. When he's scoring he thinks he'll miss, when he's not scoring he'll think he'll score. They're all the same. Confidence is a big part for him and this is fantastic for him. I think we had an edge in the game today. Obviously Newcastle have had a busy week. They've been in Lisbon and had to travel back. It's a busy week for them, we've had a full week to prepare and I think we prepared well.

"I don't think we're far away, we've had a good discussion and we're getting closer all the time. It's the same with all negotiations, they're never easy. It involves any discussions and hopefully we'll get nearer and nearer. It's important to keep all our players here so you can't get a stability that goes on for years. Near the top, it's that stability that gives you success and what we've done over the past few years is a new structure, we've got a lot of youth coming through so the future looks good for us.

"We'll look forward to that and hopefully we can win it again. We've got a great record in cup football so there's no reason why we can't go on and do it. Manchester United are always subject to the demands and expectations of the world. We feel we were disappointing at the start of the season and last week was a disappointing performance but a lot of things have been good. We've developed really well and Ronaldo is coming on, he's a terrific player for us. There's a lot going on at the club that people don't actually see, but we know the future's good."