Liverpool winger Stewart Downing was thrilled with their FA Cup win over Manchester United.

The result followed Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final elimination of Manchester City at Anfield, and Downing feels the camaraderie amongst Kenny Dalglish's squad was a key factor in both games.

He told Liverpoolfc.tv: "I think it has been the perfect week. City was a tough game and the lads put a lot of effort in, so it was a big task for us against United and we had to do a lot of running off the ball. But you can sense our team spirit is very high. We were desperate to win and I think it showed with the way we played.

"We had to grind the win out. They are a good team and although they were missing some players, they've still got people to come in and do well.

"It was a tough game and there wasn't much created, but we took our chances when we got them.

"We can build on those two results. Confidence is high and we've got some big league games coming up.

"We've got to take this (form) into the league. Every player is playing their part no matter what team or system the manager plays, and we're all enjoying it at the moment."