Ronaldo, who earned a reputation in his early days at United as a player who would often go to ground too easily, admitted he was surprised by Styles decision to book him and refuse the shouts for the penalty.

Speaking after the Monday night clash, he said: "I think it was a penalty. The goalkeeper knows he touched me, but the referee made a decision and I need to respect that.

"The referee was doing his job and I was doing mine. If he sees the replay, he sees that I jumped and that he touched me and in my opinion it is a penalty."

With Niemi coming under fire from Ferguson for appearing to brandish an imaginary card at Styles in an effort to get Ronaldo booked, Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez was quick to defend his goalkeeper, despite admitting that he expected the referee to award a penalty.

"Antti was trying to tell the referee he had not touched Ronaldo - and he hadn't," said Sanchez.

"Ronaldo jumped and sprawled. Had he jumped and gone the other side he could quite easily have scored, but he sprawled and that's why he got the booking," said the Fulham manager.

"Ronaldo had a good claim for the penalty, though. The referee thought that he dived over the keeper, but I think we were fortunate to get away with it."

Victory for United took it back into second spot, three points behind leaders Arsenal, but Ferguson insisted that his team can play better and be more clinical in front of goal.

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