Manchester United: Sir Alex Ferguson has responded defiantly to Manchester United's loss to Manchester City in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final, insisting that his charges can make amends when the tie comes to Old Trafford.
When asked if a spot at Wembley was still up for grabs, the Scot told Sky Sports: "We would be foolish to think it wasn't. The United crowd, the occasion and what's at stake, we will be OK."
Ryan Giggs gave United the lead at Eastlands, but the in-form Carlos Tevez netted twice against his old club to give the Citizens the advantage heading into the second leg.
Ferguson continued: "I thought we played well. We dominated most of the match.
"We had a mad couple of minutes when they scored their equalising goal, we lost our composure a little bit for 15 minutes, but after that we were OK.
"I think for most of the game we were reasonably in control. For the first 30 minutes we were in complete control, that's not in any doubt, but that mad few minutes before half-time got them back into the game and there is always a chance away from home that you can lose a goal any which way."
The Red Devils boss refuted the notion that he should have put out a stronger lineup, pointing to the presence of several battle-hardened regulars in the starting XI.
"There were some young players there, but we had experience," he added.
"Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher - they have got plenty of experience. Jonny Evans is young, Anderson is young, Rafa [Rafael da Silva] is young, but we had enough experience."
Finally, on Tevez's heroics for City, Ferguson said: "That's just the way it happens. Football is like that, it can bite you at times.
"We have had many players who have left the club and then scored against us, so that's not an issue. We are happy with the players we have."
Goal.com
First Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 17:26