POST MATCH REACTION: Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 3 Manchester United

What a terrible first half performance.... But who will remember that? We came through the storm, nicked a first half lead through the head of Wayne Rooney. And we were away.

We came out in the second half and we were saved by David De Gea. He made a brilliant save from a shot that was deflected off of Louis Saha. The reflexes required to make that was incredible. He made it at 1-0 and it would have been a totally different game had it gone in. What a fantastic 2012 he is having.

Then came along Ashley Young. Having already set up the first, he squeezed home a volley from a Nani cross, and then curled home a beautiful effort. 3-0 There was only one winner from then on. Jermaine Defoe grabbed a late consolation, powering home past an unsighted De Gea. Yet it was a day where winning ugly done the job.

We couldn't get into it in the first half. Spurs were pressuring so much that Scholes and Carrick couldn't get a grip on the game. We turned possession over numerous times. Rooney too was very off colour. Just a horrible half of football for us. David De Gea made several smart stops, but none that were truly outstanding. He would have been disappointed if he had let them in. But they had to be saved.

Phil Jones didn't have his best half either. He got booked early on and had to walk a tight rope, one he almost fell off. Lennon beat him down the left hand side too and that led to a goalmouth scramble one where it had looked like our defense had been breached. However we were saved. Martin Atkinson blew up for a dubious handball on Emmanual Adeybayor. Not deliberate in my opinion.

However, from a corner in the dying embers in the first half. Young swung in a corner, Kyle Walker couldn't keep Rooney under wraps, and the striker headed home. Sucker punch.

The second half was more of the same. It seemed like it was a matter of time when Spurs would equalise. We couldn't get out of our half. Yet Nani stormed into the box and fed Young, who finished wonderfully from a bad angle. And more was to come. Ashley Young again. Driving toward the box, he shifted the ball right, and using a Spurs defender, blinded Brad Friedel and curled it into the top corner. Fantastic.

From then on, it was just a matter of closing it out. Giggs was on for Scholes, and his penetration through the middle gave us options, against a tiring and dis-heartened Spurs midfield.

David De Gea did not grab the clean sheet his performance deserved however. Jermaine Defoe's shot found the back of the net after the defense allowed him too much time.

But today was a good day. A great day. One where we kept the pressure on Manchester City. This could have been a nightmare against a good side. But our ability to win ugly is second to none. An ability that may just tell in May. It may just prove the deciding factor in whose trophy cabinet the is a little fuller.