Man Utd penalty row rumbles on

Bolton captain Kevin Nolan has revealed that even Manchester United's players couldn't believe Rob Styles gave them a penalty on Saturday.

Styles awarded a spot-kick at Old Trafford following Jlloyd Samuel's tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo, even though the Bolton defender clearly won the ball.

Nolan claims that Ronaldo, who drove home the spot-kick to put United on course for a 2-0 win, and several of his team-mates said they didn't think it was a penalty, while Styles will reportedly apologise to Bolton for the mistake.

“Ronaldo was on the floor saying, 'I didn't want a penalty!',” Nolan told the Daily Mail.

“I don't think one of them put their hands up asking for a penalty. Fletcher's going, 'It's not a penalty', Tevez is going, 'It's not a penalty'. Twenty players who were in the box at the time knew it wasn't a penalty.

“But the man who was in black had the final say. They couldn't believe their luck. But you're at United and unfortunately that happens.

“It does strike fear into you when you look at this magnificent stadium. Maybe that's what's happened to the referee. He said he thought Jlloyd took Ronaldo before the ball.

“It didn't make sense to me at all. But I can't say too much or I'm going to get done by the FA.”

Styles, who was demoted twice last season after awarding two erroneous penalties, apparently wanted to apologise immediately after the game but was restricted by the guidelines of his superiors at the referees' governing body.

Instead, he e-mailed his manager at the professional referees' association and asked for an apology to be passed on to Bolton, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.