Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson described his side’s late collapse at Everton to draw 3-3 as “unthinkable.”
Having gone behind to Steven Pienaar‘s 39th-minute goal, United appeared to be cruising to victory after Darren Fletcher, Nemanja Vidic and Dimitar Berbatov put them in control. However, Tim Cahill powered home a header in the first minute of added time and Mikel Arteta‘s deflected strike levelled things up 60 seconds later.
“It’s amazing. We’ve thrown it away, like we did at the Fulham game (when Brede Hangeland hit an equaliser in the 89th minute),” he said.
“You have to have determination in situations like that. We were so wasteful with our chances. We could have scored five or six in the second half with great opportunities and that has come to haunt us.
“But saying that, to lose two goals in injury time is unthinkable. We had it under control and the game is finished – even when they scored a second. It is a terrible end for us.”
Despite finding themselves under pressure for most of the first half, United were never overwhelmed by their hosts and once they equalised just before the break there appeared to be only one winner.
Ferguson was left to rue a number of missed chances which would have put the game beyond the Toffees’ reach before their dramatic late comeback.
“We have thrown the points away and hopefully at the end of the season we don’t sit back and regret it,” he added.
“We had some great opportunities in the first half and I think most of the time we were the team who threatened most in terms of playing football.
“Vidic’s goal was a good time to score but going 3-1 up you think you are in a comfortable position but football comes back to bite you. It has happened before and we have done it ourselves.”
PA Sport
