Fergie looks to be doing his best to bite his tongue as he doesn't want to land his young charge in even more hot water... Derek Wanner
23 Mar 2009 02:36:00
Photo Gallery
Zoom
Manchester United Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is still aggrieved by referee Phil Dowd's decision to send off Wayne Rooney during the dying minutes of their shock defeat away to Fulham on Saturday.With just two minutes of regulation time remaining and Man United 2-0 down, their fiery frontman was shown his second yellow card for dissent and for throwing away the ball, albeit in precisely the direction it needed to go but with no small amount of venom."The ball was thrown to where the free kick was being taken - did it hit the referee? No," Ferguson fumed on MUTV."But there's no point talking about the referee - we didn't play well enough in the first half and that's why we lost."At this point the United manager will be secretly hoping that Rooney escapes with 'just' the one-game ban. According to News of the World, the England striker's petulant reaction to the red card, during which he berated the referee before storming off the field and punching the corner flag on the way out for good measure, is likely to earn him a three-match suspension.In this case, Rooney would not only miss the coming game against Aston Villa, but also the following ones against Sunderland and Everton, all of which are potentially pivotal to United's ever more difficult title defence.