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Owen: I've proved myself now

20 Sep 2009

Michael Owen believes he proved his dedication to Manchester United with his dramatic last-gasp winner against Manchester City at Old Trafford.

Owen spent eight years playing for United's bitter rivals Liverpool but Sir Alex Ferguson signed him this summer - and the 29-year-old scored his second goal for the club to seal a 4-3 win deep in stoppage-time against City.

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When asked if that would confirm hero status with United fans, Owen told Sky Sports: "Yes, if there was any doubt before then maybe.

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"It was always going to create noise when I joined but even if the fans didn't take to me you're never going to pass up an opportunity to play for team like this."

City equalised three times before Owen struck.

Wayne Rooney opened the scoring before Gareth Barry took advantage of Ben Foster's error. Darren Fletcher scored two headers, with Craig Bellamy levelling twice for the visitors.

"We dominated and the lads played well for a lot of the game," Owen added. "There were individual mistakes but over the years before I was here the defence has been fantastic."

Fletcher added: "It was an unbelievable match, we showed great character to come back. The goals were mistakes but we look at the positives - we showed character to the end."

Ferguson has noticed Owen's sharpness improving in recently weeks.

The United boss told Sky Sports: "To be fair we noticed in the last two weeks he's adjusted to training and has been sharper.

"He's been really good in terms of the intensity of the training and he has got better and better. Even when he came on against Besiktas, he showed that sharpness.

"We were saying that we were going to have to get him on and get him game time because he's been doing very well."

While Owen only needed one chance to strike, Dimitar Berbatov kept getting denied by City goalkeeper Shay Given.

Ferguson added: "It was a fantastic performance from Dimitar. He was the unluckiest player on the pitch and could have had five goals.

"I felt the game would be in their box. There was no doubt about that in the last 20 minutes we sensed that and there is no one better than Michael Owen when that happens."

Ferguson felt it was one of the classic derby matches, adding: "What can you say? We've given three goals to them. It could have been an embarrassment, 6-0 or 7-0, if we defended our proper way. We could have won by a big score but by making mistakes, which was the essence of the game, we probably were in the best derby game of all time.

"What do you choose? Win the best derby game of all time or win 6-0? I'd probably pick 6-0."

Rio Ferdinand made an error for Bellamy's second goal, with Ferguson admitting the England defender will be relieved after Owen's winner.

"I'm sure he is," Ferguson said. "We did make terrible mistakes but it is a collective thing at this club, don't blame Rio himself."

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