• Premier League

Fergie says Carroll deserved red, Allardyce left angry

Sir Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce both complained about the performance of the match officials after Manchester United rescued a 2-2 draw at West Ham on Wednesday.

Ferguson was adamant Andy Carroll should have received a first-half red card for a head-first challenge on keeper David De Gea, while Allardyce felt his side were robbed of a "famous victory" after the linesman failed to spot Robin van Persie in an offside position for the equalising goal.

West Ham twice led through Ricardo Vaz Te and Mohamed Diame, but were pegged back by Antonio Valencia and Van Persie. Ferguson claims he did not see that Van Persie was in an offside position for the 77th-minute leveller, but was convinced Carroll should have been dismissed earlier in the game.

"You hope there's a strong referee, but I'm not sure we got that tonight," Ferguson told Sky Sports. "It's obvious. We can't dwell on that, it's an obvious red card but the referee didn't give it."

De Gea responded admirably to West Ham's aerial onslaught, and Ferguson felt the entire team showed they are ready to be crowned champions by fighting back to take something from the game.

"David [De Gea] has developed into a fantastic keeper, he's got stronger, he's developed into a first-class goalkeeper," Ferguson said.

"We played like champions in terms of determination and courage. Their goalkeeper saved them in the end, we just couldn't finish them off."

Allardyce accused the officials of taking victory away from his players, after replays clearly showed Van Persie scored from an offside position with 13 minutes left to play.

"The team has played the best they can play and they have scored one of the best goals of the season and the assistant referee takes it away from you,'' he said. "It's a bit difficult to take.

"That's their job, it's their job to give the offside decisions that appear in front of them. This is a blatant one, this is not a position he should or shouldn't be in. He can see Van Persie is two yards offside, he should put his flag up, he doesn't.''

Allardyce, whose men look set for another season in the top flight on 39 points, added: "Andy Carroll has a shot two minutes in and his flag went straight up so I don't know what's going on. This has taken a famous victory away from us today. To draw this game by a default goal from Manchester United is difficult to swallow.

"A fantastic performance by the team - they get rubbished for some of the football they play and that's a disgrace as well. They (officials) shouldn't make those mistakes. If we (players) make those mistakes they're out, dropped and they're blatant. If you make big decisions and don't get them right you're out of the team. It was an offside goal and it shouldn't have been given.''

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