SAF: Riley "made a mistake"

SAF on penalty
By Chris,
April 21 2009

Sir Alex Ferguson believes referee Mike Riley "made a mistake" in not awarding Manchester United a penalty during Sunday's F.A Cup semi-final. The most controversial issue of a largely dour 120 minutes was when Danny Welbeck tumbled to the floor under the challenge of Phil Jagielka. Everton eventually won the tie 4-2 on spot-kicks.

Welbeck steamed towards goal before being caught by Jagielka.

However Riley, whose appointment had caused pre-match controversy due to the ref's supposed support for United, waved play-on.

"I've seen the video and it looks a penalty kick but in the importance of the game the referee probably has to be dead sure," said Sir Alex.

"Why would Welbeck go down when he had the goalkeeper stranded out of his goal? It was a major decision and unfortunately it has gone against us. Nothing you can do about it. We have to move on now.

"When Riley sees it he'll probably realise he's made a mistake but I can't say that's the reason for us losing."

SAF: Riley "made a mistake"

Posted by: manutdweb.com (IP Logged)

Date: 21/04/2009 02:03

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net