Sir Alex Ferguson felt Manchester United "played like champions" as they left it late to earn a crucial point from a 1-1 draw at Blackburn.The Red Devils were fortunate to get a point after Rovers mounted a dogged rearguard in defence of Roque Santa Cruz's opener at Ewood Park.

Carlos Tevez scored the equaliser with two minutes to go, finally breaching a Blackburn backline which was defended expertly by man-of-the-match goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

But Ferguson believes his side were worthy of a win based on their overall performance, and admitted they were unfortunate not to be awarded at least one of three penalty shouts - the most compelling of which was a handball claim against Brett Emerton.

He said: "We'd have rather had three points and I think we probably deserved three points. But the thing is we have rescued a point again late on and that's a positive thing.

"Our second-half performance was phenomenal. Our tenacity was fantastic and we played like champions.

"I think we could have had three penalties and at the moment we are just getting those breaks against us.

"But we can't go on about it because we should have won the game anyway. Brad Friedel has had a fantastic game but we dominated the second half."

Rovers boss Mark Hughes told Setanta Sports 1: "But we've given them a really good game. We were excellent, certainly in the first half and we were good value for our lead.

"You always expect United to have a response though. We've known examples of that before and United keep going right to the end.

"I feel it was a little harsh on us, though, we did exceptionally well and they didn't create a great deal.

"Yes, we could have won it but you saw in the response of our fans that they understood we put in a really good performance."

Friedel, who pulled off a series of point-blank saves as United piled on the pressure in the closing stages, added: "We played very well in the first half but towards the end of the game if you're leading against Manchester United they are always going to throw everything at you.

"We are devastated to give it away at a set piece for the equaliser. Paul Scholes (whose header teed up Tevez's goal) is a very clever player and he's burned us in the past.

"But today the boys showed they can mix it with the best of them."

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