SAM Allardyce rated Saturday's 2-2 draw against champions Arsenal as one of his side's major results of the season.

And he praised his side's comeback, when they wiped out the Gunners' 2-0 lead, as "magnificent".

"The result equalled our win at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

"Considering that has been the only time Manchester United have been beaten at home in a league match this season, it shows just how good I thought this match was," he said.

Yet he admitted that ten minutes into the second half, he thought his side had lost any hope of picking up points to help their bid to escape the relegation zone.

"I really thought we had lost it," he said. "At half time we went in after matching them then all of a sudden the sucker punch struck.

"There was some quality in Henry's run but then there was some poor defending with the lack of marking on Ljungberg which we should have cut out.

"The second one was just a great strike. Pires had no room, we had closed him down, yet he still planted it in the bottom corner- and with hardly any backlift."

Yet if those goals had deflated Allardyce and lifted Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, the roles were soon to be reversed.

"It was an unbelievable comeback from my players," was his verdict. "The effort and commitment from all the players was tremendous.

"It didn't look as if we were going to get anything out of the game then a little bit of quality when it was needed in Youri's finish was all important when we did get an opportunity to score and then I think we saw an Arsenal side that could not take the pressure of Bolton Wanderers. They found us very difficult to cope with, threw their substitutes on and our second goal came about with the pressure we concerted on them and they panicked somewhat.

"There was a little bit of luck with the second goal, perhaps on the final touch, but it came about from what was a quality ball from Youri.

"I was more than happy to accept a 2-2 draw but my players decided they wanted to go on and win it.

"And no matter what I did on the touchline, they just ignored me so I stopped trying to get any information to them. I just had to hope that if they were going to go for it, then don't lose it.

"Instead they had some great play and nearly won it on a couple of occasions."