Megson blasts Styles over penalty

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The visitors were still holding Sir Alex Ferguson's side after an hour when Jlloyd Samuel slid in on Cristiano Ronaldo and most of the stadium felt Samuel's tackle had been a good one, but referee Rob Styles took the opposite view.

Ronaldo scored the penalty, paving the way for a 2-0 win, and Megson said: "It was a nonsense decision. When Rob Styles blew the whistle I thought he was going to book Ronaldo for diving. He did not seem to be sure what he was going to give."

He added: "My thoughts on the tackle were the same as everyone else's in the stadium apart from one man. When the referee sees it again, he will have the same opinion too. It really sticks in the throat."

It is not the first time Styles has attracted criticism for a debatable penalty decision, having been briefly dropped from top flight duty 12 months ago when he gave a spot kick to Chelsea against Liverpool when Steve Finnan had barely touched Florent Malouda.

"I don't want him to ring me up," added Megson. "I would have more respect from him if he just holds his hands up and says he was wrong.

"If he tried to justify that it will be incredible.

"I don't know if we would have gone on to get something out of the game but we certainly would not have gone 4-4-2 and we would not have made changes to try and score."

Even Ferguson accepted Styles had got it wrong, although as the official has previously angered the United boss with his decision-making, he does not feel much sympathy.

"I was surprised because it looked as though their lad got a foot on the ball," said Ferguson. "But Rob Styles turned us down four or five times last year so maybe it is payback time. But he still owes us another four."