Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes received a late 30th birthday present on Saturday, ending his goal drought by scoring an athletic volley against Charlton Athletic as United triumphed 2-0 in Sir Alex Ferguson's 999th game in charge of The Red Devils.

The recently England retired attacker hadn't scored for his club since netting against Manchester City in March, but things are looking up for him now as United seem to have put together a string of decent form.

Scholes admitted: "It has been frustrating for me, but it was my birthday in midweek so that proved the perfect present - the best I could have asked for."

"I really wanted that goal. In the last couple of weeks I had a few chances and felt it would come eventually, but I have no idea what the problem has been.

"I was trying to take chances but it just didn't work out. Hopefully I can go on from this. Maybe it helped that I didn't have time to think about it. It was a sharp chance and I took it."

However, Scholes insists it's not just him who has been misfiring in recent games, adding:  "The team has struggled for goals, but in the last couple of weeks we have shown we are coming back. We are creating chances, but we haven't scored as many as we would like.

"Now it's up to us to go on from this. We have so many players capable of scoring, it is frustrating that we haven't produced the goals we should"