Fergie lauds Rooney reaction

Sir Alex Ferguson praised Wayne Rooney for his goalscoring performance against Aston Villa on Tuesday.

The England striker gave his manager the perfect response to his goal demand by bagging a brace in the 3-1 victory at Old Trafford.

Rooney had only scored three goals all season for United before the Villa game but looked back to his formidable best in midweek to help the Red Devils to success.

And Ferguson hailed the frontman for finding the net twice before the interval in their latest Premier League encounter.

He told Sky Sports: "The man's got a great appetite to play and everyone should remember that.

"We remember that - he has a great appetite to work and fight and he gets his rewards eventually."

The win - which was assured after Nemanja Vidic responded to Darren Bent's second-half strike - sees United keep their unbeaten record intact while also maintaining their five-point lead at the top of the table.

And Ferguson has called for his side to play with the same mentality throughout the remainder of the campaign.

"You keep knocking off the games and if we can keep winning then eventually you run out of games," said the Red Devils chief.

"The aim for us is to keep the momentum going and keep the work-rate up like we did tonight against a good Aston Villa team and hopefully it gets us where we want to be."

Ferguson did no business in the January window and watched on as some of United's rivals spent big in the market, including a frantic transfer deadline day that saw Chelseasign Fernando Torres for £50million.

And the Scottish tactician pinpointed Villa's move for Bent as the catalyst for the colossal spending adding: "There has been some amazing buys.

"I think there has been a chain reaction from Aston Villa paying £24million for Darren Bent because everybody thinks their player is 24-plus.

"But you can't be surprised or amazing because this is the Premier division."