Manchester United Football Club News

• Nickname:Red Devils
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

• Ground:Old Trafford
• Capacity:68,174

Ferguson accepts red card

28 Oct 2009 - 08:05:50

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson thought referee Chris Foy was right to hand Gary Neville a straight red card in Tuesday's Carling Cup fourth round victory at Barnsley.

The veteran defender was dismissed in the second half at Oakwell for a lunging challenge on Adam Hammill, but Ferguson had no complaints.

He said after United's 2-0 victory: "I've just seen the sending off, and Gary did follow through with the tackle and caught the player.

"It wasn't high, just above the ankle, but in the present climate I'd say that the referee was probably correct."

Ferguson's comments came just two days after he had criticised Andre Marriner's performance in his side's 2-0 defeat at Liverpool and on the same day that he had accepted an FA charge of improper conduct for the comments he made about referee Alan Wiley's fitness earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Ferguson was delighted with the performance of his young side as they secured a place in the quarter-finals of the competition thanks to goals by Danny Welbeck and Michael Owen.

The veteran Scot added: "Barnsley worked very hard and put in a lot of effort and they had one or two chances after we went down to ten men.

"But overall I think we deserved to win the game and I'm delighted with the response from the players. We didn't play as well as we could have, but we're through and I'm happy with that.

"It was a fantastic goal by Michael Owen. He had such quick feet, it was a marvellous finish."