Ferguson Still Eyeing Treble After Cup Draw

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson vowed to keep his side's treble quest alive after seeing them survive an FA Cup scare at Middlesbrough.

The Premiership leaders surrendered a 1-0 lead and then had to come from behind to clinch a replay at Old Trafford on Monday, March 19 courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo's 68th-minute penalty.

However, the draw came at a cost with keeper Edwin van der Sar facing a scan tomorrow on a calf muscle damaged during the warm-up and defenders Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic picking up injuries which could rule them out of next Saturday's Premiership clash with Bolton.
Asked if the treble dream was still alive, Ferguson said: 'We are still there. 'The name of the game is to keep winning. That is the best recipe and best energy-enhancer of all time, winning. We can handle that.

'They (Middlesbrough) are still in the cup too. We will approach it the way we did today. We will use our squad in the right way.
'We will start utilising our pool, which we have been doing for the last three weeks.'

United dominated the first half and went ahead on 23 minutes when Wayne Rooney blasted home his first goal in eight games.

However, Boro dragged themselves back into the tie a minute before half-time when Lee Cattermole smashed a shot on the turn past reserve keeper Tomasz Kuszczak.
The Teessiders got their noses in front within two minutes of the restart when George Boateng took advantage of some woeful marking to head home Downing's corner, but the Dutchman's joy was to turn to misery on 68 minutes.

He blocked Rio Ferdinand's flick-on with his hands and referee Rob Styles had to hesitation in pointing to the sport, and Ronaldo calmly stroked home his 17th goal of the season.
Ferguson told Sky Sports News: 'It was one of the best performances for quite a while, for weeks. The rhythm was back, the speed was back and it was terrific to see that.

'It was a good pitch, everything was in our favour and then the goal at half-time brought Middlesbrough back into the game.
'The goal from the corner kick was a bit of bad marking on our part, but we never gave in.
'Manchester United are expected to keep going - they did and we got a deserved equaliser.'
On van der Sar's injury, he added: 'He has a calf injury and we will send him for a scan tomorrow - hopefully it is not serious.'

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate was delighted with his side's performance, and warned United not to write them off ahead of the replay. He said: 'Everybody will have written us off - I think most people wrote us off before the game today, and we came very, very close to turning them over.

'When you are in the position we were in, you have the belief you are going to go on and win it.
'We had that belief all week that we could win the tie today, and that was the expectation once we went ahead with the way we have been playing.
'We played well in the second half and you think you are going to get there.
'We were obviously bitterly disappointed to concede, but we are still in there.
'We have got to remember they put their strongest side out today - that is a mark of the respect they have for us as a team.
'We have pushed them all the way again and we are still in there fighting.'

Boateng was furious with the penalty award, although Southgate took a more philosophical view. He said: 'I have had a look at it again. At the time, I felt it was very harsh.
'He did raise his hands, the only thing I feel is he was only a yard away from him when it was flicked and it is very difficult for anybody to adjust their body in that split-second of time.
'But there we go, we do not complain about referees' decisions here afterwards. He gave it honestly and we have to live with that.'