Soccer:Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson described today's 6-1 rout at the hands of derby rivals Manchester City as "our worst ever day".

After going 1-0 up through Mario Balotelli in the first half, City took full advantage of Jonny Evans’ 47th-minute red card, breaching a woeful United defence five more times.

Ferguson pulled no punches in his post-match assessment of a result that puts City five points clear of their rivals at the top of the Barclays Premier League table.

“It was our worst ever day,” said Ferguson. “It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I ever lost 6-1. That’s challenge for me too.

“I can’t believe the scoreline. The first goal was a blow for sure but it was retrievable at 1-0. The sending off was a killer for us. We kept attacking when we went 4-1 down and we should have just said: ‘We’ve had our day.”’

Ferguson was particularly frustrated with some of his senior players for allowing United to continue playing open football with a man down.

“We just kept attacking. They were attacking three versus two. It was crazy football,” he said. “I thought with the experience we’ve got — Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra — they would (defend more) but we just kept attacking. Sometimes there has to be common sense about it.

“It was a bad day.”

The Scot attempted to find some positives amid his darkest hour and suggested his side would be sufficiently chastened by their embarrassing loss to produce a big response.

“We’ll come back. By January we’ll be okay. We usually get the show on the road in the second half of the season and that will have to be the case,” he added. “We’ve played all the teams around us and they have all to play each other so the second half of the season is important to us now.

“We will react, no question about that. It’s a perfect result for us to react to because there is a lot of embarrassment in the dressing room and that will make an impact.”

The scale of the defeat did concern Ferguson, though, as he looked ahead to the potential importance of goal difference as the season progresses.

“What did concern me was the goals for and against. Goal difference may count. Last year it was in our favour, most years it is in our favour...this time maybe not.”