Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola praised United's defence as Edwin Van der Sar broke two more goalkeeping records.

Van der Sar has not been beaten for 1,212 minutes but he is protected by a defence that earned special plaudits from the West Ham coach.

"I knew it would be difficult if they scored first," said Zola. "You don't expect a team like that to be so strong defensively.

"You expect them to be so good going forward. But Alex has done a great job as always and they look very, very strong.

"For me it has been a positive match, I know that we lost but we were playing against the best team in Europe, if not the world, and we just lost by one goal.

"I am happy for my team. It has been another step forward for us even though we lost the game.

"I am sure it won't be easy for anybody to come here and beat us but they did it in a very professional way.

"They just punished the only mistake we made. Our goalkeeper only made one save. When you can win games like this you are very strong.

Zola insists matchwinner Giggs can go on for years to come if he retains his current desire.

The United winger sold West Ham's defence two dummies before scoring with his right foot.

Zola finally retired as a player just one week short of his 39th birthday believes Giggs, now 35, can do the same if he wants to.

"I have a lot of admiration for him, he is a fantastic player, and although you are the opposite side, you enjoy players like him," said Zola.

"He is a very good advertisement for football and young players. When somebody has got such a talent it is all down to the desire. If you have the desire to carry on playing and challenging yourself all the time, he can play for many years.

"It is up to him. When I was at his age, I just didn't want to give up. I wanted to get better and better. That's why I played for more years.

"Looking at him, he has the same desire. He is one of those players you would love to have in your team."

Ferguson joined Zola in a tribute to his team's defence and revealed the challenge of keeping clean sheets was proving to a strong motivational tool.

"I always felt one goal would be enough," said Ferguson. "We have a challenge in terms of all the clean sheets we are keeping.

"It is a great motivation for the players, particularly for Edwin Van der Sar.

"He has everyone jumping out of their skin at the moment because of the record. When you have that foundation, you are always hoping one of your skilful players can win the game for you, Cristiano Ronaldo or Dimitar Berbatov. Today it was Ryan.

"For Manchester United, over 20 hours without conceding a goal is extraordinary because normally it is 4-3. Great credit to the players. I am very proud of them."