Distin rejects Ronaldo complaint

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United top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo claimed he was not offered enough protection by referee Martin Atkinson and should have been awarded a penalty in the sixth minute as Distin blocked his path.

Distin is adamant his challenge was fair, saying: "If every time you touch a player it is a penalty, how do you defend? This is football - it is a contact sport."

He added: ""I went shoulder to shoulder with him. I was not going to move out of the way.

"If you cannot do this and you cannot do that, then you are not able to defend."

The turning point of the game came in the 77th minute when Portsmouth were awarded a penalty after goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak - who had replaced Edwin van der Sar at the break - tripped Milan Baros.

Kuszczak was sent off and replaced by skipper Rio Ferdinand. However the defender was given no chance with Sulley Muntari's cool spot-kick.

Portsmouth saw the game out after defending superbly.

Goalkeeper David James turned a shot from Patrice Evra on to the post while Distin and Glen Johnson cleared off the line.

Distin added: "I am really proud of the team's performance. We stuck to our game plan and it worked. We thought if we could resist United in the first half then anything was possible."