Carrick: We deserved the break

Michael Carrick believes Manchester United were good value for their last-gasp win over managerless Sunderland at Old Trafford tonight – even if there was a touch of good fortune about Nemanja Vidic’s injury-time winner.

Man-of-the-match Carrick played a major part in the only goal of the game as it was his shot that deflected off Carlos Edwards and onto the right-hand post before Vidic hungrily lapped up the rebound.

It was arguably no more than United deserved after the hosts bossed possession against the battling Black Cats, but Carrick felt the game should have been over as a contest long before Vidic struck.

“It was a case of knocking on the door for the whole match pretty much. We knew it might take until the end of the game and we knew we had to be patient,” he told Setanta Sports 1.

“But I think we deserved the win – you cannot argue with that.

“It’s a lot better feeling when you score late, but we should have killed it off earlier.

“We’ve got a bit of luck, but over the course of a game you create your own luck and we’ve done that today.”

Three points for Alex Ferguson’s troops moved them into third place in the Barclays Premier League table having earlier slipped behind Arsenal.

United are six points behind leaders Liverpool but with a game in hand, and Carrick believes the Red Devils’ season is starting to come to life.

“It was important for us to win the game. We want to keep the run going that we’ve started,” he continued.

“It’s a tough challenge winning the league, we’ve done it from the front and now we’ll have to try and do win from behind.”