Manchester United assistant boss Mike Phelan admits sending out the subs to warm-up was key to Carlos Tevez creating Dimitar Berbatov's winner against Bolton on Saturday.

"We weren't far off bringing Tevez off and sending young Danny Welbeck on," Phelan told the BBC. "But he has a habit of doing that: you warm up a centre forward and it spurs him on! Carlos did extremely well for the goal."

"The bench [at Bolton] was good and definitely played its part. Giggsy has those skills to unlock people and Scholesy has good control. We were on top of the game but we thought bringing those two on would give us that little bit extra."

Phelan praised the Reds for persevering until the final whistle but also revealed United's loyal army of travelling supporters played its part in the victory.

"I felt the crowd, in the second half in particular, sucked us into that goal area and we responded to that. I'm glad they got the reward as well as us.

"It doesn't matter if we score in the first minute or the 90th minute - we keep going until the end."