Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says Owen Hargreaves' injury in the 2-1 victory over Wolves "was a disaster."
Ferguson took a chance on the fitness of Hargreaves, which backfired badly as he lasted just five minutes on his first start since September 2008 after suffering a hamstring injury.
"We took a gamble with Owen Hargreaves," admitted Ferguson.
"We thought by doing that it would give us a compact midfield with experience. But he only lasted five minutes. It was a disaster.
"He has hurt his hamstring, which is unbelievable. It put us under the cosh.
"Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic were all feeling under the weather, then we had to bring Bebe on.
"He has potential but he is learning.
"What we needed was the patience to open them up because we were playing without a lot of players who can make a difference at that stage of the game.
"It is unfortunate we didn't get one earlier. Nevertheless, we will take it."
Park Ji-sung struck the winner two minutes into injury-time against Wolves, just as it seemed United were about to lose more ground to Chelsea in the title race.
The South Korean's near-post effort gave United their sixth successive win and they head into Wednesday's Manchester derby at Eastlands in confident mood, even if their ranks are somewhat depleted.
