Fergie grateful for Fed express

SUNDERLAND 1, MAN UNITED 2

IF Manchester United retain the Barclays Premier League title, they will have to have a special medal struck for Federico Macheda.

The 17-year-old won’t have played sufficient matches to qualify but at the moment is almost single-handedly keeping them in the championship race.

For the second time in a week, Macheda conjured a dramatic match-winning goal, this time at the Stadium of Light where the Reds laboured to a hard-earned and somewhat fortuitous victory against Sunderland.

Macheda came off the bench to score a last-gasp injury-time winner against Aston Villa on his first-team debut and on Saturday had only been on the field 46 seconds when he struck with his first touch.

Michael Carrick’s 76th minute shot appeared to be going off target until Macheda managed to divert it low to the left of keeper Craig Gordon.

Sir Alex Ferguson said: “He has something special about him, the boy. It’s that quick thinking that goalscorers have got. He has just got that instinct.”

Ferguson admitted it was a big three points with Liverpool beating Blackburn so decisively to maintain the pressure on them at the top.

Equally important it meant they left for Portugal and tomorrow’s vital Champions League quarter-final on a winning note.

They will surely have to raise the bar from Saturday, however, if they are to become the first British team to win at Porto and reach the semi-finals.

After being held 2-2 at Old Trafford last Tuesday, they will need to produce a far better defensive display as Porto ought to have triumphed. And United were shaky again at Sunderland against opponents battling to stave off the threat of relegation.

They desperately need Rio Ferdinand back as Nemanja Vidic looks a lost soul and a shadow of his usual dominant self without his defensive sidekick alongside him.

There are also a number of other players who are experiencing a worrying dip in form at this crucial stage of the season including Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park, Jonny Evans and John O’Shea who were all below par on Saturday while Dimitar Barbatov, returning after injury, was ineffective.

Vidic had had a header clear off the line before United took a 19th minute lead as Paul Scholes found the net with a terrific header as he outjumped Anton Ferdinand - some achievement - to glance Wayne Rooney’s cross into the top corner.

United were stunned early in the second half when keeper Ben Foster failed to cut out a left-wing floated cross from Teemu Tainio as Kenwyne Jones stabbed the ball home at the far post from a couple of yards.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who was on the bench, replaced Park but failed to make an impact.

Indeed it took Macheda, who came on for Berbatov, to provide a further twist to this absorbing title race with his second match-winning goal of the week.