Source: SKY_Sports
Fergie rues penalty decision
Sir Alex Ferguson queried if a dig from David Moyes played on referee Mike Riley's mind after Manchester United lost to Everton on penalties in the FA Cup semi-finals.
United boss Ferguson protested furiously on the touchline after his team were denied a penalty midway through the second half of the 0-0 draw at Wembley.
Danny Welbeck went to ground following a challenge by Phil Jagielka after the young attacker had nudged the ball past Everton keeper Tim Howard.
Ferguson felt the decision went against his team and wondered if Everton boss Moyes' comments in the build-up to the encounter had an influence on Riley.
When told Riley was a United supporter by reporters ahead of the game Moyes had dodged the issue, saying: "If that's true why don't you ask the FA?"
Mistake
Ferguson believes it could have been a factor, commenting: "I think it might have been.
"I'm not saying that for certain. I've no idea if it affected the decision, but you never know. It may have. It can prey on a referee's mind.
"I've seen the video and it looks a penalty kick, but in the importance of the game the referee probably has to be dead sure.
"Why would he (Welbeck) go down when he had the goalkeeper stranded out of his goal? It was a major decision and unfortunately it has gone against us. Nothing you can do about it. We have to move on now.
"When he (Riley) sees it he'll probably realise he's made a mistake, but I can't say that's the reason for us losing."
Ferguson fielded a weakened team for the game after leaving the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick back in Manchester.
Bold decisionSubstitutes Paul Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov and Patrice Evra were due to start, but Ferguson changed his mind when he saw the state of the Wembley pitch.
He said: "When I saw the pitch yesterday (in the Chelsea v Arsenal semi) what I didn't want was to go into extra-time with my strongest squad.
"Yesterday it looked spongy and dead and difficult to move the ball quickly around it. They've got all these lights around the perimeter to help the growth and the standard of the soil. But it looks dead to me.
"So we had to go with the bold decision of playing the younger ones. After all our club is built on giving young players opportunities and they didn't disappoint.
"Once we made our mind up I was quite enthusiastic about it. It was the right thing to do. It was good for them."
