BOLTON, England (AFP) - - Sir Alex Ferguson faces an appointment with the English Football Assocation after being sent to the stands during his team's fiery 1-0 defeat to Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.
The Manchester United manager watched the second half of his team's first league defeat in over three months from the directors' box after an angry exchange with referee Mark Clattenburg in the tunnel at half-time.
The dismissal will require Ferguson to appear before an FA disciplinary hearing and could result in him being banned from the touchline, although his biggest concern on Saturday was seeing Nicolas Anelka's goal defeat his team and cost them three points in the bid to keep pace with Arsenal at the top of the table.
"I told him exactly what I thought and he didn't like that," said Ferguson of his flashpoint with the official. "Some referees don�t like the truth.
"I just told him how bad I thought he was and he didn't like that. But the game was becoming a shambles.
"It was a feisty game. They set an aggressive tone and we were looking for protection from the referee but didn't get it. It became a shambles, the first half, there was foul after foul after foul.
"We got involved ourselves, giving silly little fouls away and we didn't want to do that. We wanted to keep passing, wanted to keep the momentum going, keep the passing going. You've got use your intelligence to beat teams like that.
"They battled for their lives, that's part of their game and you expect that but we should have had more protection from the referee and we didn't get it. It was a battle."
The most obvious manifestation of that battling display from the home team was the tussle between United's French left-back Patrice Evra and Bolton's Kevin Davies.
However, while the Bolton man was booked in the first half by Clattenburg, Evra was not despite a number of retaliatory fouls himself.
"I don't know whether they targeted him or not but he seemed to be involved in everything, the poor soul," said Ferguson of his defender. "He had some terrible tackles on him. I couldn't think that was the reason but he did seem to get involved a lot."
Ferguson was honest enough to admit his team did not deserve to win, after failing to create enough meaningful chances, and the veteran manager was anxious to look ahead, rather than back.
"It's another day in the history of Manchester United," he said. "From time to time we have to take defeats, it's part of the game, and we have to bounce back. We have the players of quality and determination to do that."
Bolton manager Gary Megson made no apologies for a vital victory for his struggling team, not least of all because it marked his first win in seven attempts since his controversial appointment as Wanderers manager.
"Whatever has gone on over 90 minutes, you can't detract from the fact that we have got a great 1-0 win from a game most people expected us to lose," said Megson.
"Any win when you are in the position we are in is a good win but to get this result when other results have gone our way is a big fillip for the football club.
"In itself, it is only three points and one win but what I am sure it has done is give us the belief that if we can beat United at our place then we can beat other teams.
"It is always key to score first and always key to keep a clean sheet and while we didn't create a massive amount of chances, United, with all the talent they have, didn't create a massive amount either.
"We have won one game from our last ten and, if we keep doing that, we will be relegated so we've got to keep on improving."
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Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:09 am
