Despite another two points dropped, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with the debut performance of Carlos Tevez in last night's 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.

"He was absolutely terrific," Sir Alex told MUTV after the game. "He made a great contribution, hopefully he's fit and ready for Sunday.

"We're going to be missing Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo for the derby. But the good thing is that I got 90 minutes out of Carlos. He tired in the last 15 minutes but I couldn't take him off because he is capable of scoring from any situation whether he is tired or not."

As with Ronaldo, Sir Alex was disappointed at the protection offered to Tevez by referee Steve Bennett, who persistently let fouls from behind on United's No.32 pass unpunished.

"He didn't get any protection from the referee," added the boss. "I don't know how many times he was fouled from behind. I will need to check that law, I didn't think you could kick from behind. But, must be a new one. He had to suffer a lot."