Assistant ref sparks wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson

Published on 21/01/2013 00:00

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was furious with the performance of assistant referee Simon Beck, as his side conceded an injury-time equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane yesterday.

Ferguson, who saw his side lead through Robin Van Persie before Clint Dempsey’s dramatic late leveller, was especially angry over an incident when Wayne Rooney went down in the area under a challenge from Steven Caulker. “For me it was a poor performance from him. Why he never gave a penalty I don’t know,” Ferguson said. “I think he had a shocking game today, he’s had a bad game and we never got anything from that side of the pitch.”

Ferguson did give credit to Tottenham, but felt his side should have killed the game off in the second half. “Tottenham worked their socks off, you have to give them credit,” he added. “They kept pumping the ball in the box and got their reward. You’d have thought we would have dealt with it better.”

Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1 in yesterday’s other Premier League match.