United goalkeeper Andy Lonergan admits he felt supremely confident that he would save Darius Henderson's penalty at Millwall on Saturday.

The former Preston goalkeeper beat away Henderson's second half spot-kick with a superb save to keep the score at 1-0 and, ultimately, ensured that United picked up all three points from a hard fought clash at the Den.

"We'd done our research and Alex our analyst and Andy Leaning gave me a sheet before the game and every penalty was in that direction," explained Andy.

"I thought to myself 'go as far as you can and as powerful as you can and if it goes in the corner you'll save it.'

"When he gave the penalty I said to Robbo 'I'll save this', I was just so confident."

When Lonergan returned with his team-mates for the post-match warm-down on the pitch he was serenaded by the departing Leeds fans for his part in what was a vital victory.

It was a win and a performance which came as a relief to a player who, with Tuesday's seven-goal mauling at the hands of Nottingham Forest still fresh in the mind, says it was one of the biggest games of his career.

"I'd let in seven goals on Tuesday which is a record," he said. "I'm my own worst critic and I picked the bones out of it. Maybe one or two deflections didn't go my way, but even so…

"It's unexplainable what happened, but that probably made Saturday the biggest game of my career so far. Having got stuffed seven I had to show something to the fans that I can produce at this level.

"I've had worse games than I've had on Tuesday and let in less goals. I wouldn't say I threw any of them in, but it was a tough few days. When you go to bed at night you see 'seven'. It's been tough for everyone, not just for me and it was good to get it out of our system.

"You say you're alright, but our confidence and pride was dented after Tuesday."

Right from off at the Den, United looked to pressure Millwall and match the physical approach which has served the hosts so well during recent years. After matching the Lions in the battle, Ross McCormack finished off a great move in the second half to score what proved to be the decisive goal.

"I thought the way we played was magnificent because it really is a horrible place to play," said Andy.

"Our fans were brilliant and credit to them too. You have to be out on the pitch to know how tough that was because they are a physical team."

The win took United back to within three points of the Play-Off places and with seven games remaining a top-six finish is still a very real possibility for Warnock and his players.

"We won our last four games of the season at Preston and went up by one goal so it can be done," added Andy.

"We have to take our away form under Neil Warnock back home because we've been magnificent away. If it means playing like that and winning we'll take it.

"We set up to defend away from home. At home there's an expectancy to score goals and put teams under pressure and create chances, but maybe we should be more like that at home."