MATCH QUOTES

Ferguson:

"It proves we shouldn't listen to Jose too much.

"He had to apologise to Andy Johnson earlier in the week so we shouldn't listen to him.

"It's a big result after last week's disappointment when we controlled a game we should have won.

"But today the players got to grips with the game, played some great football and showed determination.

"Ronaldo was unbelievable, he was a revelation today and he is as good as anyone in the country.

"After 11 games in a row it was a good time to give (Rooney) a rest.

"Scholesy does that all the time in training so it was nice to see it go in. It fell perfectly for him, it was a marvellous strike and a wonderful goal.

"I wasn't surprised to see it fly in because he's done it many times in the past - I remember his goal at Bradford which he scored direct from a David Beckham corner."

Ginger Prince:

"I knew I'd hit it well and I was just happy to see it go in off the underside of the bar."

"I'd probably say it's better than my goal against Bradford.

"They always look a bit better when they go in off the underside of the bar like the Villa one did!

"It's certainly up there. I found myself in quite a lot of space during most of the corners we had in the game so I was waiting for one. Thankfully one came.

"It's great to be back amongst the goals - it's been a while since I've scored [against Liverpool in October]," he added. "I haven't scored as many goals as I would have liked this season, so hopefully this goal can start me on a run."

Scholes talks about Ronaldo:

"He's been fantastic for us all season.

"He's such a threat whenever he gets the ball.

"He creates plenty of chances for us and this season he's scoring a few goals too. Hopefully that can continue."

Martin O'Neill:

"We were playing very well indeed until they scored the first goal - which was very avoidable from our point of view.

"We lose possession, they score. We've got a lot of young players in the side and that sort of experience will bring them on immensely.

"You make mistakes against top quality sides and you'll remember them."

"The only thing is the reality, and the reality is that the distance (between United and Chelsea) is only two points and they (United) have no problems.

"They play with the same team every week, they have no injuries, no suspensions, no bad decisions like we got against Tottenham.

"We have problems. We don't have the best goalkeeper in the world

"We don't have John Terry (missing from the Wigan game with a back problem). We don't have Joe Cole. We have red cards, bad decisions against us, suspensions, and still the distance is only two points. If we are here with these problems . . .

"Last season it was the opposite. Everything was running fantastic for us and they had problems. Paul Scholes had a problem with his eye, Ryan Giggs was injured, Wayne Rooney was coming back from his injury, this and that — and the difference at Christmas was how much? Fourteen, 15, 16 points in our favour."