Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has hailed his reserves after they romped to a 3-0 Carling Cup victory over Aldershot last night.

Ferguson made 11 changes to the side that was defeated 6-1 by Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday.

"They are always giving me nudges," Ferguson said. "It's the difficult thing about having so many good players. We have a fantastic squad and that is why I had to play these players, they needed games.

"They have not had many first-team games because the consistency of the team is very good and we have not had to make changes. But Michael Owen, every time he plays he scores. It's a fantastic record he has got. You cannot ignore that.

"They've all done well. Tom Cleverley coming back is a good thing for us because he is an outstanding footballer and needed another 90 minutes."

Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia all scored to propel the Red Devils to the quarter-finals of the competition.