Carrick: ‘Title Race Is Not Over’

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick admitted he was disappointed by today's derby defeat at Old Trafford but insists it hasn't dented the club's title ambitions.

It was Carrick who struck what turned out to be a consolation goal in injury time as United slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of local rivals Man City.

“Scoring doesn't really mean much because we lost, we’re all desperately disappointed,” he told MUTV. "We never got going and didn’t create the chances we normally do. That’s not like us.

City took the lead midway through the first half through former England international Darius Vassell and doubled their lead just before the interval when new signing Benjani glanced in a cross from the excellent Martin Petrov.

“Once City got the two goals it was hard to come back from it,” added Carrick.

“One goal down, you always believe you’ve got a chance of coming back, but two is difficult. We needed to score right after half time to give us momentum, but when we did score it was too little, too late.”

Arsenal could now move five points clear at the top of the league if they beat Blackburn at the Emirates Stadium on Monday but Carrick refuses to be despondent.

“I don’t think Arsenal will go the rest of the season without dropping points," the former Spurs midfielder continued. "There are still going to be ups and downs in the title race, and hopefully there will be more ups for us and we can overtake them.”

Lastly, he admitted that it was a shame that the game didn't go United's way on such an historic day for the club.

"It was good to see that the minute’s silence was well observed. But in terms of the game we’re not going home happy.”