Premier League Review:Manchester United launched another staggering second-half comeback to wreck Blackpool's dream with a sensational 3-2 victory, while James McCarthy's late strike wasn't enough to stop Aston Villa taking the points at Wigan.
Ian Holloway's Seasiders were full value for their two-goal half-time lead at Bloomfield Road thanks to United old boy Craig Cathcart and DJ Campbell.
But the introductions of Ryan Giggs and Javier Hernandez - and the substitution of Wayne Rooney - turned the game on its head in the final half hour. The Mexican scored the visitors' equaliser either side of a Dimitar Berbatov brace as the Red Devils went five points clear at the Premier League summit.
United boss Alex Ferguson was delighted with his side’s fighting spirit after a “terrible” first-half display.
“They just never give in,” he said. “In the first half we were battered. We couldn’t handle Charlie Adam. We were terrible. I don’t know the reason for the first half. We were all over the place. Maybe we were too confident.
“We changed at half-time, Ryan Giggs made a tremendous difference. We started to penetrate and I think we were deserved winners in the end.”
Ferguson knows not to write his side off having seen countless similar comebacks in the past.
“I know the game’s never done in situations like today,” he said. “You know at some point we’re going to do something. You’ll get games like tonight. Maybe sometimes we won’t come back but we’ll always try to come back.”
Ferguson reserved special praise for goalscorers Hernandez and Berbatov.
Of Hernandez, he said: “His pace and timing of the runs is fantastic. He’s so good at that. He could have scored four goals. He’s made a tremendous impact.”
And of Berbatov he added: “He’s having a great season. He has great talent. The third goal, the composure, I was screaming for him to square it to Chicharito but, no, he has the confidence and ability to do what he did.”
There was a late scare for United as Rafael was taken off on a stretcher, leading to 10 minutes of stoppage time.
“He’s gone to hospital,” said Ferguson. “We just hope he’s okay. He’s got concussion, we know that, we just hope everything else is okay.”
In the night's other Premier League fixture, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young maintained the Villa resurgence with second-half goals that saw off battling Wigan 2-1.
Gerard Houllier's side pulled themselves further away from the relegation zone as they followed up last weekend's uplifting win over Manchester City in impressive fashion at the DW Stadium.
Ireland's McCarthy marked his return from injury by pulling one back with a low drive in the 80th minute as Villa finished in nervous fashion, but the visitors hung on to leave Wigan - with just one win in nine - in trouble in the bottom three.
Selected Results
Premier League
Blackpool 2 Man Utd 3
Wigan 1 Aston Villa 2
League Cup Semi-final Second Leg
Arsenal 3 Ipswich 0
(Arsenal win 3-1 on aggregate)
