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Bidding to re-establish a seven-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, United saw their advantage restricted to five points when Clint Dempsey lashed in a stoppage-time equaliser amid steadily descending snow at White Hart Lane.
Dempsey’s intervention deprived United of what would have been a very welcome victory, given the barrage of attempts at goal that the visiting defence had to weather in the second half of Sunday’s game.
Ferguson, though, reserved his ire for assistant referee Simon Beck, who kept his flag down despite Steven Caulker appearing to trip United substitute Wayne Rooney inside the Spurs 18-yard box in the 63rd minute.
Beck previously found himself the target of Ferguson’s anger after failing to flag when Didier Drogba scored a winning goal for Chelsea at Old Trafford in April 2010, and the United manager’s reaction proved he had not forgotten.
“It was a clear penalty kick on Wayne Rooney, but in no way was the the linesman going to give that,” Ferguson told the BBC.
“He gave them everything else. We have not had a good record with this linesman — against Chelsea a few years ago he gave on-side to Didier Drogba, who was three yards off-side. You remember those things.”
United were far from their best but looked poised to claim a smash-and-grab win through Robin van Persie’s 25th-minute header until Dempsey swept home in the 93rd minute after United goalkeeper David de Gea failed to get enough distance on a punch.
“They pumped the ball forward, maybe David De Gea could have got a better punch on it, but I will have to see it again,” said Ferguson.
FA Cup commitments mean United do not have a league game until they host Southampton on January 30, but Ferguson said his side could take heart from the difficult away games that are already behind them.
“If you look at our away programme, we have been to Everton, been to Liverpool, to Manchester City, to Tottenham,” he said.
“We have been to all the top teams away from home.”
Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas has seen his side take four points from United this season, after a 3-2 win at Old Trafford in September, and he said he hoped the penalty incident would not over-shadow his side’s performance.
“It’s obviously going to be debated and debated, but I hope it doesn’t mar the game,” he told reporters.
“I think during the game, we got most of the decisions against us. A penalty is a penalty, but I prefer to look at the game from my view. — AFP.
Online Reporter