Man United 2 Tottenham 3: Sir Alex blasts lack of stoppage time

Sir Alex Ferguson vented his fury at the lack of stoppage time following Manchester United’s defeat by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.

The hosts fell behind within 90 seconds when Jan Vertonghen netted for Spurs, before Gareth Bale doubled the Londoners’ advantage before the break.

Nani halved Spurs’ lead after the break but Clint Dempsey hit back a minute later to make it 3-1. Shinji Kagawa then struck again for United but Andre Villas-Boas’s men held firm to seal Spurs’ first win at Old Trafford since 1989.

“The biggest insult is the wasted time,” Ferguson told BBC Sport. “They gave four minutes – it’s an absolute insult. It’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s denying you the proper chance to win a football match.”

Ferguson admitted the Red Devils were below-par in the first half but praised his side’s character for their improvement after the interval as the home side relentlessly pounded the Spurs defence in search of an equaliser.

“I think the most important thing was the first half, we didn’t start well,” he said. “[It was] lackadaisical losing a goal after two minutes and giving ourselves an uphill fight.

“In the second half we were terrific, it was a great performance. I think we were unlucky not to win the match even.

“We lost an early goal against Fulham but we managed to claw that back. Today we just didn’t have the breaks to do that. I can only say that I’m happy we were able to see the real Manchester United in the second half.

“It’s disappointing for us tonight because our record against Tottenham at home has been fantastic – they hadn’t beaten us since 1989. The first half was disappointing, second half a different game.”