Alex FergusonThe quality of away fans we have at Old Trafford is usually pretty poor, with them usually all falling some way short of the impressive support United take with them on the road.

Our Old Trafford fans could sing for half an hour non-stop, but the moment a song finishes, the unimaginative away support, who will have been silent so far, boom out, “Shall we sing a song for you?” We usually get a few rounds of “I support my local team,” too, you know, because everyone inside Old Trafford is actually from Surrey.

Today though, with a few thousand more tickets available with it being a cup game, the away end was more lively than usual. For the opening minutes, we had a few rounds of the unoriginal “When the Spurs go marching in” and “Yid army!”. At 1-0, the Spurs fans, who crushed Arsenal in the Carling Cup this week, compounded our misery, by insulting us with a “Are you Arsenal in disguise?” At this point, what had already been a magical week for Tottenham was looking as though it could become heavenly.

However, with 20 minutes remaining, United went 2-1 up, courtesy of a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, leaving the cocky Spurs fans with egg on their face. “Are you Arsenal in disguise?” we roared in return to their earlier songs. As the clock ticked down and United added a third, “One nil, and you fucked it up, one nil, and you fucked it up…” was thrown in the faces of the demoralised Spurs fans.

Nothing amazing, but it was rather enjoyable having more original banter between us and the away fans, particularly at the expense of Arsenal!