Ashley Young believes Manchester United got their "just rewards" after his late goal secured a vital win at Newcastle on Wednesday.
Young pounced on an error from Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul -- whose penalty heroics spurred Louis van Gaal's Netherlands side at last summer's World Cup -- to give the away side all three points and keep their top four hopes alive.
"David De Gea was magnificent again tonight. It was a hard fought win. We knew we needed three points and got our just rewards," Young told BT Sport.
"We heard of results, others winning around us so it was vitally important to get a win here. It was great work by Wazza [Wayne Rooney], the ball fell to my feet and I put it away.
"People are always going to question the biggest club in the world. We concentrate on ourselves, listen to the manager and coaching staff and don't listen to anyone else."
Victorious manager Van Gaal was noticeably reluctant to shower De Gea with too much praise and pointed to his discomfort over recent stories in the press he claimed had twisted his words.
"I'm always a little bit hesitant to say that (he is the best keeper in the league) because I cannot judge the other goalkeepers, but he is having a terrific season with us,'' said the Dutchman. "When I say something positive then they are twisting my words and I'm not happy with that.
"For example I didn't say that we were the best team in the league, because the best team in the league is Chelsea, because they have the most points. But when the media is saying to me that we are the best team over the last 15 matches, then I say, 'Yes, that's true,' because that's a fact.
"But it's not really fair to put in the papers that 'Van Gaal said we are the best team in the league.' So what can I answer to the questions you put to me? It is very difficult.''
Van Gaal felt the win was no more than his team deserved on a night when they dominated for long periods and Krul, who was his World Cup penalty shootout hero with Netherlands last summer, had produced a string of fine saves to keep them at bay.
The Man United boss said: "When you lose points -- and we have done that a lot of times in this competition -- when you are the better team, then it is very disappointing. That's also a big influence in the mental state of my team.
"But today, we rewarded ourselves at the end of the match in a fantastic moment because all the competitors have won also their games.
"Now we are still fourth, we have dominated the game in an away match, difficult ground, so everybody is full of confidence to play against Arsenal in the FA Cup quarterfinals, and that's very important."