Ferguson: It typified history of the club

minutes later with a curling drive, hailed it as a massive win.

‘We knew if we won we would go five points clear. It was a great result, a great performance.’

The win was United’s seventh league success on the spin as they have fully cashed in on City’s recent struggles to take over the title race.

‘It’s a crucial time in the season, everyone knows that,’ added Young. ‘We knew that goal would come at some point, whether it was a shot or cross it went in the back of the net.’

Ferguson felt he was also indebted to Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea, who made three good saves in the first half to prevent his side from going behind.

‘The progress is obvious for all to see,’ he said. ‘He’s growing in stature and confidence. He made three great first-half saves. David kept us in the game. We had a lot of possession, but we just couldn’t get that goal with the way Blackburn defended deep.’

Rovers boss Steve Kean believes his side showed enough to suggest they are capable of avoiding the drop.

‘If we can play at that standard for next seven games — not for 80 minutes but 90 — we’ll get plenty of wins,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to take all the positives out of the first 80 minutes. We’ve got to set that standard. We were playing against the potential champions.

‘I think for 80 minutes we gave it a really good go. Their goalkeeper has had a very good night. He’s made good saves when we’ve had our little opportunities. I thought (Junior) Hoilett and Yakubu caused them problems.’ out at Arsenal. But a delighted Sir Alex admitted his nerves had been jangling during a game which eventually condemned Blackburn to the bottom three below QPR on goal difference.

He said: ‘It was a long night. We had to persevere and persevere. We got our rewards. We weren’t making any clear-cut chances for a long time. But it was an important win and it typifies the history of the club.’

Winger Young, who had come on for Paul Scholes in the 79th minute and struck seven