Woodgate hails Spurs' ambition after United deny them at the death

He even made it to 7.30pm on Saturday without tweaking a hamstring on the way home.

Some signing this could turn out to be.

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Jonathan Woodgate was outstanding against the champions and the central defender deserves his place among Fabio Capello's 23 players for Wednesday's friendly against Switzerland at Wembley.

United got there in the end, when Carlos Tevez steered Nani's corner beyond Radek Cerny in the fourth minute of injury-time, but Woodgate was exceptional all the same.

He has added stability to a Spurs defence who have conceded 41 goals in 25 Premier League games and he shackled the remarkable talents of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs with a classy performance.

Woodgate has joined a team who are upwardly mobile under head coach Juande Ramos, but there was a sting in the tail for Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate when the England defender claimed he is playing under 'a proper manager'.

Despite achieving a personal ambition by playing for his hometown club, there was no hint of regret when Woodgate spoke about the decision to leave Middlesbrough. Just as well, then, as he may not be welcome back.

Woodgate said: "I could have stayed at Middlesbrough and had the easy, comfortable life, but I wanted to come to Spurs and play for a team who are going places. I want to play for a club with ambition who are trying to win trophies. With this manager and with these players, you can see what they're trying to build.

"Being at Spurs reminds me of when I was at Leeds and we had all these new players coming in — I was excited. The fans are good at Spurs, the manager has won silverware, he looks the part and he knows what he's doing — he's a proper manager.

"I'm playing with good players here. Fabio Capello will come and watch a lot. It's just down the road for him, but it's four hours to Middlesbrough."

Ouch.

Southgate will almost certainly have something to say about that, but Woodgate has joined a team with long-standing ambitions to break into the top four.

Cerny went some way towards redemption for last weekend's blunder in the FA Cup at Old Trafford by turning Anderson's effort around the post, Alan Hutton looked comfortable on his debut at right back and Dimitar Berbatov provided reminders of his brilliance.

Winning only a point appeared harsh after Spurs had controlled the game for 70 minutes, snuffing out Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez and looking likely to add to the lead given to them by Berbatov.

United's players complained bitterly when Jermaine Jenas used his hand to propel the ball into Aaron Lennon's path for Tottenham's goal, but referee Mark Clattenburg failed to spot the infringement.

United have failed to win their last four games officiated by Clattenburg and judging by Sir Alex Ferguson's predictable post-match reaction, supported by Rio Ferdinand, it's a fact that has not been lost on them.

"Jenas hand-balled it and I don't know how the linesman hasn't seen it," complained Ferdinand.

"If I can see it, I don't know how the ref can't see it when he's in front. Clattenburg is a good ref, but he made some funny decisions. A lot of the bookings were over the top. He made it difficult for himself with bookings for some innocuous tackles."

It was certainly one of Clattenburg's more colourful performances.

He booked seven United players, triggering a mandatory fine from the FA and a rant from Ferguson, but Nani should have been sent off when he clattered into Pascal Chimbonda.

Rooney was booked for a scandalous dive in the second half and will miss the Manchester derby on Sunday and Cerny was given a yellow card for time-wasting.

It was never that sort of game, though.

Instead, it was fought out between two highly talented teams with their eyes on very different prizes.

Qualifying for Europe through the league is surely beyond Ramos's side, but they have a Carling Cup Final and a UEFA Cup tie against Slavia Prague to prepare for in the coming weeks.

A draw has left United two points behind Arsenal in the title race, but they have 13 games to set the record straight.

"Spurs always step up their game against us," added Ferdinand.

"We always knew it would be tough, but we never give up."

After slipping to second, they cannot afford to.