Boss relieved after Reading test

Sir Alex Ferguson was as relieved as anyone to hear the final whistle at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday, having watched his side make hard work of a 2-0 win over Reading.

Wayne Rooney scored 13 minutes from time, with Cristiano Ronaldo adding a second in injury time. But it was by no means comfortable, Reading caused United problems all afternoon and never gave in.

“By the end we were quite happy to get through it,” admitted Sir Alex afterwards.

“Considering the number of opportunities we had, maybe our decision-making in the final third of the field wasn’t at its best. We kept making chances, but you do start to worry when the game goes on and you haven’t scored.

“You worry whether you’re going to get the goal, and it took a lovely flick from Wayne to get us in front. Credit to Reading they kept going at us. They really do make you work.”

Both sides set out with an attacking agenda, which made for an end-to-end encounter.

“It was a really open match,” added Sir Alex. “It really needed an early goal, which could have led to a lot of goals in that game. We got the goal at the right time and managed to hold on to get through.

“I wasn’t sure how Reading were going to approach it. When I saw their line-up I knew they were going gung-ho. The opportunities they had, they had a go for it.

“Kitson gave us a lot of problems, but in the main it was down to our own attacking play, which wasn’t at its best today. With a bit more care in the last third we would maybe have scored more.”