United boss fears Young may find it hard to shake diver tag

The victory was ultimately emphatic as Manchester United moved a step closer to the Premier League title in a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa, although it was not without controversy as manager Alex Ferguson felt compelled to leap to the defence of his winger Ashley Young.

The victory was set in motion by a sixth-minute penalty from Wayne Rooney, awarded after Young won a hotly disputed decision after going down under pressure from Villa’s Ciaran Clark.

While television replays showed there was some contact between the players, pundits quickly pointed to the fact that Young seemed to “go looking” for the collision and fell down theatrically to convince referee Mark Halsey.

The decision followed Young winning an equally contentious decision in United’s previous home game, seven days earlier, and the behaviour of the former Villa winger will once more come under close scrutiny.

Ferguson conceded that Young “played” for the penalty and fears his man may be gaining an unwanted reputation but insisted it was a legitimate penalty call.

“I think he played for the penalty,” said Ferguson. “If the player decides to put his foot in and doesn’t straighten his own feet and read the situation, then he’s fallen into that. He’s there for the taking. I think it was a dramatic fall, I think maybe he overdid the fall. But it was a penalty, there was no doubt about that. I don’t think there can be any complaints as he does take him.

“Good defending has always been good defending. He’s a young lad, don’t forget, and if they read the game and keep their feet they should really cope with that.

“He’s bought the fact Ashley has jinked in and come inside him. He’s gone down quite easily but it was a penalty, he was definitely brought down.”

Given the instant and angry reaction to the penalty incident, Ferguson, however, does concede that there is a danger of Young becoming known as a “diver”.

“I think in that situation, the last week or two, yes,” said Ferguson. “I’ve never seen that in him, it’s not a habitual thing in him. He was brought down, he just made the most of it.”

United’s victory, which also featured a second goal from Rooney, an effort from Danny Welbeck and Nani’s first goal since December, was the perfect response to Manchester City’s emphatic 6-1 victory at Norwich a day earlier — as well as United’s surprise midweek loss at Wigan — and restored their five-point lead.

Intriguingly, the Manchester derby at City’s Etihad Stadium at the end of the month is now looking a possible, if not likely, place for United to clinch the title, although Ferguson is taking nothing for granted.

“There could be twists and turns yet but the name of the game is to enjoy ourselves, play with the expression we did in this game and hopefully we will be all right,” said Ferguson. “You can never be too confident in this game of football. My experience tells me there is always something that is going to bite you on the bum. Hopefully we can avoid that, the name of the game is not dropping any more points.

“The players accepted the fact we lost the game on Wednesday and did something about it.”