Glad Kompany!

VINCENT KOMPANY warned champions-elect United: “The City fightback starts here.”

The Etihad skipper was in bullish mood after Sergio Aguero’s strike silenced Old Trafford and cut the gap at the top to 12 points.
While Kompany knows in reality there is no stopping Alex Ferguson’s side marching to a 20th crown, he sounded a battle cry for next season.
He said: “We worked very hard and we gave them few chances. We were the better team.
“We play to win and the way we finish the season can have an impact on the next when we will start from the beginning.
“This is a good game to have under our belt.”

After England winger James Milner had fired the visitors ahead, Kompany was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Phil Jones’ header went in off him to gift the home side an equaliser.
But Aguero came off the bench and showed his strength to win it with a brilliant goal 12 minutes from time for City.
And after the noisy neighbours had secured the consolation prize of local bragging rights, the Belgian added: “A derby is always a special game, to win is massive. Our fans will still celebrate and it will be a great night for us. We all worked very hard.
“They played very offensively and have an unbelievable strikeforce. We had to be tight to them. We did that very well. Overall we were the better team and we’re really pleased with that.”
City face Chelsea in a blockbuster FA Cup semi-final on Sunday — and Milner hopes that victory at Old Trafford will stand them in good stead for the rest of the season.
He said: “We deserved the win at what is always a tough place to come. It was a great result and we will want to keep the momentum until the end of the season.
“Regardless of where we are in the table, a derby’s a derby. You massively want to beat your rivals, that is always the case.
“It was massively important, we knew that. We came here, worked hard and got a good win.
“They have such a great record at Old Trafford, they are very tough to break down. It’s a bit of a disappointment to concede from a set-piece — but it’s a positive thing and something to take into the weekend.”
City boss Mancini was left to rue what might have been for his side.
He said: “This season we had some important players injured like Aguero and Vincent Kompany.
“We are not a team that can lose Aguero, Yaya Toure and Kompany together.
“This can happen. There are some years when maybe you lose stupid points like us against QPR, Liverpool at home.”

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While City were celebrating, United boss Alex Ferguson vowed his side would not be coasting to the title despite their still commanding lead.
He said: “Relaxing? We won’t be doing that. If you look at the history of the club we always make it difficult for ourselves.
“We put supporters on the edge of their seats every year. The only other plus point is that there are only seven games left now.
“Each game goes on and you whittle them down.
“We go to Stoke on Sunday and it will be a big effort, the support will be great. We will have a go.”
As for the game itself, the United boss admitted: “We had a bit of luck with the goal we scored but it was a fantastic free-kick.
“There were a lot of plus sides and evidence our form is good — Robin van Persie was fantastic and almost 90 minutes for Wayne Rooney will bring him on again after missing a couple of games.
“Looking at the whole thing it was not a bad day in terms of performance level in an intense game. You don’t want to lose a derby game but we’re OK.
“Ashley Young may miss Sunday. It’s not serious. The more important thing is trying to get one of the centre-backs ready.
“That will be important. But Phil Jones was magnificent.
“He’s only played two games at centre-back this season and that tells you what a good player he is, at 21 years of age he is a man. He was fantastic.”
Jones himself was keen to take the positives out of last night.

HERE WE GIO ... City's Sergio Aguero gets ready to celebrate as his winner flies past David De Gea

Pic: RICHARD PELHAM

He said: “We have to keep our heads up as we are still in a fantastic position. The lads deserve an enormous amount of credit for putting ourselves in that position.
“Hopefully we will win on Sunday and bounce back like we always do. It was very open from the start, both teams attack — it looked like someone would score sooner or later. We played good stuff at times but it wasn’t to be.”
And the England utility player insisted United’s fighting spirit was still intact after they hit back from a goal down.
He said: “We did that every time we have been a goal down this season, responded well. But we don’t want to be in that situation.
“When it does happen we do brilliantly to get back and we did that again. We were full of confidence and had the upper hand but got stung by a late goal.”
He admitted he relished filling in at the back. He said: “I enjoyed it. I enjoy playing for Manchester United wherever I play. I like playing centre-back and hopefully I can play a few more times before the end of the season.”
TV pundit and former United stalwart Gary Neville said: “Aguero showed magnificent touch for the goal. That is a great moment for him and City.”
As for his old boss Ferguson, he said: “He will be just disappointed. There weren’t masses of chances for either side but you have to say the possession was controlled by Roberto Mancini’s men.”