Fergie blasts 'ridiculous' decisions March 10 2008
Sir Alex Ferguson slammed referee Martin Atkinson's performance as Manchester United's treble dreams went up in smoke against Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
United had the better of the chances against Pompey but Sulley Muntari's penalty proved the difference as the visitors snatched a 1-0 win.
Muntari faced Rio Ferdinand in goal after Tomasz Kuszczak, who replaced the injured Edwin van der Sar, was shown a red card for bringing down Milan Baros.
But it was a penalty that was not given that incensed Ferguson, with Cristiano Ronaldo appearing to have been fouled by Sylvain Distin early in the match.
"It's absolutely ridiculous," Fergie told MUTV. "I cannot explain it. Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week."
The Red Devils boss, who also felt Atkinson was too lenient on Portsmouth fouls, laid the blame at the door of referees' chief Keith Hackett.
"He's not doing his job properly and he needs to be assessed," said the Scot. "I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people.
"That performance today should not be accepted by our game."
Ferguson, however, had no complaints about the spot-kick awarded to Pompey and red card for Kuszczak.
"It was a penalty kick," he said. "The boy Kuszczak had to do his best but I'd rather he let him score and then we'd still have 11 men on the pitch."
Ferguson called for a response from his team when they resume their hunt for the Premier League title against Derby next weekend.
"It has to have an impact, the impact is we've got to do something about it," he added. "The determination, the energy from their team showed us something."
Pompey manager Harry Redknapp claimed his side reaped the benefits of sticking to their gameplan.
"It's fantastic," he told Sky Sports One. "To come here today it was the worst draw of the lot. It was a great performance. We worked, we had a plan and we stuck with it.
"You always have to ride your luck, they are a fantastic team. They are different class. We deserved our luck."
Redknapp also saluted the result, which he dedicated to the club's fans: "It's a great day, great for the fans, I am delighted for them."
Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, who played his part in keeping United at bay, added: "We rode our luck a little bit. It was a great effort."