Rio Always Had Faith In United's Class Man United's Rio Ferdinand has claimed that he never doubted his side would strike a killer blow against Readi

United missed a whole host of chances at the Madejski Stadium and left it until twelve minutes from the end to go in front. But the central defender insists that the sheer quality of attacking options meant he always knew they would score eventually.

"You start wondering, but in the last fifteen minutes we always knew we'd get three or four more chances", he told MUTV.

“With the talent we’ve got, you keep thinking ‘we’ll score the next one'...Rooney and Ronaldo, who have been doing so well for us lately, managed to put the ball in the back of the net."

In an entertaining game in which both teams tried to attack, Alex Ferguson's side were pushed all the way by a plucky, obdurate Reading side who looked a better team than their current position in the league suggests.

Ferdinand paid tribute to Steve Coppell's men, "That was probably the hardest game we've had all season", he admitted, "Reading worked us very hard. They pushed us all over the pitch and we had to battle for our three points today."

In the end it took a piece of class from Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney to break the deadlock.

"The ball from Carlos was exquisite", added Ferdinand, "he picked out Wazza, who stretched his leg out and managed to guide it past the keeper. I think he took the keeper by surprise with how early he hit it, it was a great goal."

United's title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea also picked up three points with wins against Fulham and Birmingham, respectively, so it remains status quo at the top.