Ferguson: Young played for the penalty

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson conceded Ashley Young played for the penalty he earned in their 4-0 win over Aston Villa.

Young was brought down by Aston Villa’s Ciaran Clark in the opening 10 minutes of the game, and the home side’s manager has said that while there was a connection, it was a soft penalty.

Ferguson told Sky Sports: “(Young) played for the penalty. The player decides to leave his foot in and takes the contact from the challenge.

“It was a dramatic fall, but it was definitely a penalty, no doubts about that.”

The Red Devils’s manager was full of praise for his team’s performance in the game, which they won thanks to two goals from Wayne Rooney and one apiece from Danny Welbeck and Nani.

“It was a good result and a good performance, the first half in particular,” Ferguson said.

“In the second half, we were more careless, but the third goal killed the game, and made sure of the result.”

However, Ferguson has refused to say that the title race between both Manchester sides is over, despite the five point gap over their city rivals.

He said: “There could yet be twists and turns, we just need to keep enjoying ourselves and keep playing alright and picking up points.

“We won’t be getting too confident, as my experience tells you that there is always something that can come back and bite you in the bum.

“We’ll just keep earning points, and that’s all we can do.”

Villa boss Alex McLeish agreed with Ferguson that Young had made the most of the contact and believed the referee’s decision turned the match.

“I didn’t think it was a penalty. Ashley has thrown his leg toward Ciaran and Ciaran tries to pull his leg away,” McLeish told BBC Sport.

“We know what Ashley is like in trying to sell the dummy, maybe we should have done better. That set us back because we started pretty well.”