Giggs helps Fergie’s men survive the rollercoaster

IT WAS so Manchester United, it was so Blackpool. It was almost one of football’s greatest fairytales, it was one of the great comebacks. But nobody will forget the first game between these sides in 35 years.

For 70 minutes Blackpool, the team who still wash their own training kit, whose squad cost just £3.5m to assemble and whose top earner picks up just £10,000 a week – one tenth of Wayne Rooney’s salary – were on the verge of a victory that would have ripped the heart out of United’s title challenge but warmed the hearts of the rest.

Instead, United’s legendary powers of recovery shone through from 2-0 down as Javier Hernandez, on for the under-performing Rooney, and two-goal hero Dimitar Berbatov saved them from the brink of disaster, rescued their unbeaten record and earned an improbable victory that puts them five points clear at the top of the Premier League.