Ashley Young and Marc Albrighton put Villa 2-0 ahead late in the game but United managed to bounce back through goals by Federico Macheda and Nemanja Vidic and got a 2-2 draw.
Fergie told Sky Sports: “We could have lost six goals in the second half. They hit the woodwork three times and Albrighton missed two great chances.
“We were all over the place.
“I think the emotions of the way Villa played kept them at a high boiling point. The tackles, some of it was fair, some of it wasn’t, but the referee allowed things to go and sometimes that makes a great game.
“I think we’ve seen a great game today. Great credit to Aston Villa for keeping that emotional aspect up for the whole game. They got stuck in, tackled, fought and the crowd kept them going.
“We had two great chances in the first half which we should have done better with and it is a concern we’ve had to wait 80 minutes (before forcing Friedel into a save).
“To be 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go you have to be pleased with that. With another five minutes we would have won the match, there was no doubt about that, but we waited to long to get there.”
