RED DEVILS

Smith (pictured) said: "What disappointed me was two professionals trying to get another pro sent off. The referee was not going to do anything until United`s players went over. They are on first name terms these days. The ref probably asked how Posh Spice was before sending our bloke off.

"It used to be if you didn`t notice the ref he`d had a good game. Now they have a league table and the one with most bookings is on top.

"There was no need for what their players did, and I thought there was an FA directive saying that anyone who tried what they did would get a yellow themselves."

Conversely, Red Devils`s boss Alex Ferguson saw the sending off as wholly justified.

"Schnoor brought the trouble on himself. He was silly making comments to the linesman, so that`s his own fault. Then he was sent off a minute later for a tackle from behind."

United came out of this ill-tempered match with a 2-1 victory that keeps them top of the Carling Premiership.