Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has insisted that his side deserved their 3-2 victory in Saturday's crunch local derby against Manchester City.
Smalling netted the winner as the Red Devils overturned a two-goal deficit to postpone their neighbours' title celebrations, and the England international said that he was proud of his team's second-half fightback.
"At half time we were feeling sorry for ourselves, we wanted to go out there and play with pride and thought we full deserved it in the end," he told Sky Sports News.
"The first half was terrible, we dropped off didn't play our game, and could have been out of sight.
"The manager didn't have to say much at half time as we knew ourselves as players it was a poor performance. He said that we didn't want to be the clowns standing there watching them get their title.
"City have been fantastic here all season, but we stepped up and won the game."
United found themselves trailing to goals from Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan at the interval, but a Paul Pogba double and Smalling's winner ultimately helped them cement their position in second place in the table.
Mark Langshaw
