Roy Hodgson saluted the performance of his Fulham side following the 3-0 victory over Manchester United, while he also had sympathy for opposite number Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Cottagers enjoyed the better of the first half and led 1-0 at the interval courtesy of a Danny Murphy goal.
Bobby Zamora then made it 2-0 in the opening minute of the second period and Hodgson admits that was the key moment of the match.
"We played well in the first half and went in 1-0 up," the Fulham manager told Sky Sports.
"We were expecting a bit of a backlash and we were fortunate to get a very early second goal, which gave us something to hold onto.
"The shape of the team remained strong and we were then able to get a third goal."
Fulham's task was made easier by the fact that United's defensive options have been decimated by injury in recent weeks.
Fergie opted to select Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Ritchie de Laet in a three-man backline but their inexperience was exposed.
Hodgson was delighted that his side took full advantage, saying: "We were fortunate today.
"We played a United side that are suffering very badly from injury but we can't do much more I suppose than play as well as we can play.
"But I have a lot of sympathy for Sir Alex at the moment because it is not easy when you are missing a whole back four."
Hodgson was thrilled with the effort of all his players but acknowledged that Zamora was likely to attract most attention after a wonderful display up front.
"He is a handful for any defence and I think he would have been a handful even if it had been Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic playing there," said Hodgson.
"He was a thorn in their side throughout the game and he crowned his performance with that very important second goal.
"But I thought there were a lot of very good performances. It was a team performance that got us the victory.
"I was delighted with the effort of all 11 players."