LEON OSMAN has praised Tim Cahill for the sacrifices he has made for the benefit of the team.

Cahill had not scored for 10 games before he headed in an injury time winner at Manchester City on Saturday, which was his first goal since September.

Such an uncharacteristic run without a goal has coincided with Marouane Fellaini’s emergence as an attacking midfielder – he scored three goals during Cahill’s recent spell on the sidelines through suspension.

But the Australian was pressed into action as an emergency lone striker at Eastlands and it’s his ability to adapt in adverse circumstances that has impressed Osman.

He said: “Tim has sacrificed himself for the good of the team.

“We all know Tim Cahill can score a goal in any moment in any game, but he might not have scored the amount he wanted to this season.

“But he has been doing other jobs on the pitch, he has been sacrificing his goalscoring to do different jobs.

“Don’t forget Felli has come in and he wants to attack the same places Tim does, so Tim has had to adjust because of that and that’s great for him.

“For what we had available on Saturday he was the best we could offer as a striker and he did a fantastic job, he caused their two centre-halves a lot of problems.

“He played a bit like a midfielder, a bit like a striker and they didn’t really know how to cope with it at times.

“So we’re all pleased with him and he got his reward with his goal.”

Manager David Moyes will now be hoping Cahill’s role as a makeshift lone striker won’t be required again against Chelsea on Monday as he monitors the fitness of his absent centre-forwards.

Louis Saha is still trying to shake off a hamstring problem, while back and hamstring troubles ruled out Victor Anichebe at City and left Moyes with no senior strikers to call on.