Fergie thrilled with Saha return

Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted by the goalscoring return of Louis Saha as Manchester United earned a narrow 1-0 win over Sunderland.

The Red Devils' strike force of Luis Nani, Oliveira Anderson, Chris Eagles and Carlos Tevez were playing together for the first time and substitute Saha - back in the fold after a long-term injury lay-off - scored the only goal with 19 minutes to go, heading in a corner from the left after replacing Anderson at the break.

Ferguson hailed the Frenchman's impact and told Setanta 1: "We have missed him. We're delighted to have him back as we got the win. He has come through fine, having been out for such a long time you're always aware that type of injury can come back again."

Ferguson added: "In the first half I thought the passing was far too slow, although the possession was comfortable we were not making chances and it is difficult when teams come here and line up the way they do."

Ferguson admitted his youthful attacking quartet had struggled to gel.

"We started with a front four who had never played together before, it was new for them so there was a lack of understanding, quite naturally," he said

"In the second half we brightened the game up and deserved to win the game."

Saha insisted it was "a brilliant feeling" to be back but told Setanta 1: "The most important feeling is to win.

"I'm not looking only on my goal, the team performance was brilliant in the second half, it was very tough because Sunderland played a very organised game.

"Being injured is a hard thing for a footballer, it's difficult to accept but I worked hard."