Man United coach Ferguson believes FA Cup rest will rejuvenate key players

Ferguson believes his decision to rest key players in FA Cup semi-final will help in the long run

Ferguson believes his decision to rest key players in FA Cup semi-final will help in the long run

Sir Alex Ferguson insists his decision to field a depleted side in yesterday's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Everton will benefit Manchester United's long-term future.

Everton's Phil Jagielka celebrates after scoring the winning penalty in their 4-2 shoot-out win over Man United in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley yesterday. PIC/AFP

Ferguson, who said his side will be back to full strength for this week's Premier League clash with Portsmouth, revealed he took the decision to make more changes than planned when he saw the impact of the Wembley pitch on the Arsenal and Chelsea players in the previous day's tie.

"We had a team picked after Wednesday's game, but when I saw the pitch yesterday I didn't want to go into extra-time with our strongest squad," said the manager.

"We had to take the bold decision of going with the younger ones with energy, confidence and a good temperament.

"This club is built on giving younger players opportunities, they got that today and didn't disappoint. I'm delighted for them, and the only disappointment is they were in a losing team.

"I'm satisfied with their performance. Everton didn't make one chance in the game. It's disappointing when you lose an FA Cup semi-final as we haven't lost one in my time. But we have to pick them up as we've got an important games coming up."

Everton manager David Moyes revelled in the success of guiding the club to a first final since 1995.

Moyes's side will now face Chelsea in the final and the manager believes this current cup run can provide a springboard for the club's development after steady progress in recent years.

"For everyone at Everton it's fantastic and the effort the players put in was tremendous," Moyes said. "We're working towards success at Everton and if we keep doing what we're doing we won't be too far away.

"There's been adversity at Everton. We weren't fortunate enough to be able to rest our best players. We put out what we had. The players have shown spirit and character in adversity "It's the best day of my career so far. It's the biggest game I've been involved in and in the end the team got through and did their job."