Manchester United Vs. Wigan Post Match Talk

Ferguson was happy with the way his team coped with the problems.

'Going top (is most pleasing) but we had to win to get there,' he told Sky Sports. 'Considering all the things that happened I think we've done fantastically well.

'I was very pleased with the football in the second half. We had 10 players missing in the end but great credit to all the players who played today.

'We speeded the game up in the second half, the flow of the game was much better.

'There was excellent interplay (between strikers). It's coming together, the understanding comes with that I think.'

On the injuries, Ferguson said: 'Vidic has been taken to hospital with concussion, O'Shea has a dead leg and Louis felt his knee in the warm-up. You can't risk that.'

Wigan counterpart Chris Hutchings was left to rue a second-half collapse.

'We had a game plan and it worked very, very well in the first 45 minutes,' he said.

'But as soon as they got the first goal they upped the tempo and could probably have had a couple more.

'It's always difficult but while it's 1-0 you have always got a chance. I'm disappointed that as the game went on, we lost our shape.'