Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes experience could be the key to landing the Barclays Premier League title after taking another step towards that goal with a 2-0 win over QPR.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side benefited from a poor refereeing decision to take the lead at old Trafford, when skipper Shaun Derry was sent off after 13 minutes for fouling Ashley Young inside the box.
Contact was minimal and Young was offside, but Wayne Rooney put away the resulting spot-kick before Paul Scholes added another goal in the second half.
United moved eight points clear of Manchester City, who lost 1-0 at Arsenal, and Ferdinand is aware they hold the advantage over their rivals - not least because they know what it feels like to lift the title.
"(Having title experience) is huge," he told Sky Sports 1. "We've been in this position before so that counts for a lot.
"We know what it takes to get over the finishing line first and we have to use that experience to do it again.
Ferdinand was also satisfied with the performance against QPR.
"They had a man sent off early in the game, and while we would have liked to score a few more goals, a clean sheet and a couple of goals - we would have taken that before the game," he said.
"We never doubted ourselves that we could put together a run of good games.
"Momentum is key at this stage of season, we can tick one more game off today and hopefully we can keep it going."Ferguson agreed Young had been in an offside position for the penalty decision, and also admitted Derry's dismissal had upset the balance of his side.
"I thought it was offside," said the Scot.
"There have been lots of decisions like that in the last few weeks. The boy (Derry) did just enough to off-balance Ashley and, being the last defender, the referee felt he had no option.
"I felt we were a little bit out of our comfort zone after that, I didn't enjoy it.
"Before the sending-off our speed was terrific, we had some good play, but the sending-off unsettled us and put us out of our comfort zone."
