Ferguson Rues Loss Of 'Silly Points' At Fulham

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson criticised his players for throwing away "silly points" in the 2-2 draw with Fulham on Sunday.

Leading 2-1, United missed a penalty and then allowed Brede Hangeland to head Fulham level in the last minute.

"When you get the chance to seal the game with that penalty you should be taking it," Ferguson told MUTV.

"It was a missed opportunity and it galvanised them, got the crowd up and they scored the equaliser."

Five minutes prior to his last minute equaliser, Hangeland had shinned a corner into his own goal to seemingly give United the points at Craven Cottage.

It was minutes after this that Nani saw his spot-kick saved by home keeper David Stockdale after Damien Duff was ruled to have handled after the ball hit his knee then hand.

"When we got that second goal I thought 'we've escaped here'," admitted Ferguson. "But to miss a penalty kick to make it 3-1, you're throwing two points away there I'm afraid."

Ferguson also questioned the decision to allow Nani to take the spot-kick and not Ryan Giggs, who had come on as a substitute.

"I thought Ryan should have taken it," said the Scot. "In the last game we played against Tottenham at home Ryan scored two penalty kicks and Nani was on the pitch the same day. Maybe Ryan should have taken it."

United began well and took the lead after 11 minutes through Paul Scholes' low drive, but were pegged back when Simon Davies deservedly levelled for Fulham with a close-range finish.

It remained that way until the dramatic finale.

"In fairness to Fulham they were the better team in the second half. I don't think we deserved to be in front at 2-1," said Ferguson. "They caused us a lot of problems, particularly Bobby Zamora who was very good for them. We can't complain in terms of the run of the game."

Ferguson reserved special praise for goalscorer Scholes, who once again produced a superb display after his midfield masterclass in the opening-day 3-0 victory over Newcastle last Monday.

"We've seen that before from Paul - he's done that so many times," added Ferguson. "Once again it was an outstanding performance from him. It's just disappointing we didn't ram home the advantage."

The result means reigning champions Chelsea - probably United's main rivals for this season's title - are the only side with maximum points following their second successive 6-0 win on Saturday at Wigan.