Sir Alex Ferguson leapt to the defence of star striker Wayne Rooney after he was accused of striking Bolton's Israeli international defender Tal Ben Haim in the face during Manchester United's important 2-0 victory over their Lancashire neighbours at Old Trafford. 

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson defended his striker Wayne Rooney, as a response to the slams from Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce after last night's 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

Television replays proved Rooney shoved his hand into the face of Tal Ben Haim a minute before the interval in a flash of temper as the striker reacted to what he felt was a clear foul by the Israeli defender that had gone unpunished.

"The referee handled it correctly. I saw it on the (TV) monitors and it is embarrassing actually," Ferguson said afterwards.

"The Bolton player, dearie me, he should be embarrassed by that. That sort of thing is creeping into the game and today the referee let a lot of things go and that was as good a performance as I've seen from a referee this season. Both teams will appreciate that."

Allardyce did not go that far, he agreed his player had made the most of it.

"I admit Tal went down rather too easily but there is no getting away from the fact Rooney pushed his hand into the lad's face," said Allardyce.

"He was lucky to get away with it because had the referee seen it, he would have had to send him off."

The other case which stirred up Bolton's sense of injustice was that United midfielder Roy Keane was also fortunate to escape a card after a brutal late foul on El-Hadji Diouf.

Editor: Wing