Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was expecting presents on his 70th birthday at Old Trafford today but the three points his side handed to lowly Blackburn Rovers on the back of a 3-2 defeat were not on the agenda.

Ferguson blamed the defeat on poor defending at Blackburn’s second and third goals.

He said: “We never expected that. We’ve lost two terrible goals in the game, and we can’t do that in a game like this.”

Ferguson praised a resilient Blackburn side, adding: “They’ve defended for their lives.”

The United manager said his players had struggled on a heavy pitch. “I think they found the speed of the pitch not so good, it was really heavy rain all week and it made the pitch really boggy.”

Ferguson admitted when United got back to 2-2 he thought they would take the victory.

“I thought at that point we were set to win it,” he said. “We’ve got injuries at the moment but we had to take a gamble on Anderson’s fitness. He did his best.”

Blackburn manager Steve Kean paid tribute to his young players after the “massive” win moved them off the bottom of the Premier League.

Kean said: “This result’s massive. To come here with such a young side and win it can be a real springboard for us to go and kick on.

“We got a very good point at Anfield and considering we have such a very young team the lads are growing up.”

Kean has put his faith in younger players, with several who played in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool and today’s win over United having come through the club’s youth system. But it was Yakubu who drew the most praise from his manager.

“He’s on fire the Yak. Everywhere he’s been in his career, if you give him good service, he’s a goalscorer.”

Yakubu paid tribute to his team-mates, saying: “Look at the way we played today. We fought for each other, we gave everything.

“Give credit to the manager, he was under pressure coming here to Old Trafford and to get three points.”