Ruud puzzled by defeat

Ruud van Nistelrooy was at a loss to explain United's 4-3 defeat at Blackburn as the Reds left Ewood Park with nothing to show for their domination. The Dutch striker scored twice as a substitute after Sir Alex Ferguson's side had incredibly trailed Rovers by three goals despite dictating play.

Ruud told MUTV: "It's crazy really. I've never played in a game like this. We had all the play really. When you concede four it becomes a difficult game.

"The fourth goal was a good strike, but the others were presents, I think. 3-1 down at half-time was the crazy thing because they didn't get any real chances but got three goals."

Van Nistelrooy's quickfire brace gave United renewed hope for salvaging at least a point from the game, but chances were few and far between in the game's closing stages.

"We said at half time that if we got a goal back then we were back in it, even at 4-1 we got back into it," he said.

"We proved that we can score goals quickly and from nothing - that gave us hope for the last 20 minutes. After that we didn't really push as much as we would have wanted.

"It was not a bad performance really but mistakes have cost us and that's a bit of a sore point."

The only crumb of comfort for United came as Liverpool conceded a late equaliser at home to Birmingham, which keeps Rafael Benitez's side three points behind the Reds in the race for second spot.

Ruud, however, saw the result as a missed opportunity to cement United's grip on the final automatic Champions League qualification berth.

"They've also lost two points which is good but we could have had a very good day," he said.

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