Ferguson rues referee calls

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson criticised referee Phil Dowd’s performance during his side’s 1-0 loss to Wigan Athletic.

A brilliant Shaun Maloney strike gave Wigan victory at DW Stadium on Wednesday after an incorrectly given corner, and United had a penalty shout waved away for a Mohamed Diame handball.

Although the Scot was critical of the officials, he acknowledged the home side were better on the night.

“You get situations, we had one a couple of weeks ago against Fulham,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.

“The (referee) is close to Patrice Evra and you’re not going to get that kind of penalty kick but when you’re 15 yards away it’s a different matter altogether.

“The linesman was clearly in view of it. So that was disappointing; it was a clear handball.

“(The corner leading to Maloney’s goal) was a bye-kick (goal kick); it was clearly a bye-kick. I thought Phil Dowd had a disappointing game tonight.

“I don’t think he ever got a grip with everything but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Wigan were the better team and deserved it.

“It was a disappointing night for us. We were second to every ball in the first-half we were completely dominated by Wigan.

“It was one of those awful nights that you sometimes get in football. It’s unavoidable sometimes.”

United are now just five points clear of their closest rivals Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title and face Aston Villa at Old Trafford in their next game.

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, meanwhile, hailed the effort of his men and was delighted by the commitment they showed.

“I think we had to work very, very hard and it is fair to say from a football point of view we stopped Man United playing, we had to defend really well,” Martinez said.

“When you see the statistics saying one shot on target and three corners it tells you how hard we had to work.

“The most pleasing aspect was how well we were able to keep the ball and create chances.

“The players deserve a huge amount of credit. It shows how hard we’ve been working and what standards they have set and I hope they get the credit they deserve.”