Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says injuries forced his hand with selecting Owen Hargreaves for their victory over Wolves.
A devastating combination of illness and injury within United ranks left Ferguson with little option other than to turn to his £18million recruit from Bayern Munich.
"We had to take a check on the morning of the game," said Ferguson.
"We pulled Ryan (Giggs) into the squad but unfortunately he was just feeling his hamstring a little bit, so he was too big a risk.
"Paul Scholes was not fit enough to start because he wasn't feeling 100% so we looked at the situation with Owen.
"He has been training very well and the doctor thought he was fine to play. Unfortunately he only lasted a couple of minutes."
