Everton manager David Moyes admitted Manchester United probably should have been awarded a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Everton.
The Toffees finally won through on spot kicks, but in normal time Danny Welbeck went down under close attention from Phil Jagielka, and Moyes admitted he had feared the worst.
"From where I was I thought it was," Moyes continued.
"I've not seen it but I thought that may be close."
Moyes said his side had practised penalties as they reached the Cup final.
Jagielka scored the winning spot-kick and Tim Howard saved from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand as the Toffees beat United 4-2 on penalties after the game had ended 0-0 after 120 minutes.
It means Everton will face Chelsea at Wembley in the final next month and Moyes said: "We did (practice), we had a go but how can you practice really?
"The goalkeeper made a couple of really good saves.
"We had a struggle to find five to take them. Jagielka was one of the ones who scored in training. We didn't have too many takers on the day."
The Red Devils had a good shout for a penalty when
Manchester United were missing the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick and Edwin van der Sar but Moyes insisted the young side gave his team a difficult challenge.
"It was a tough game for us," he added.
"If they put out their under-14s it would have a been a tough game - they are going after every trophy.
"For everyone at Everton is fantastic.
"If they keep doing what they are doing now it (success) will not be too far away."
Your Comments
mgaffney
"keenanlfc, It was awful your right, when I seen him stepping up I knew he would miss then when I seen Rio step up as well I was like for F##k sake why didn't Tevez & Scholes take 1 I know Anderson took 1 he normally scores and he did, but so does Tevez.
Berba hasn't hit the heights expected of him this year, I said we should have went for Huntelaar instead and was ridiculed for saying it. Can't blame team selection I was actually excited when I seen the lineup, I thought Macheda did very well better than what Berba contributed anyway. I hope I am proved wrong about Berba because he is a talented Footballer on his day. "
joesmatt
"Well the squad gave an impression SAF was giving up the cup.I do not want to talk more about ref because he was under pressure from the media and Moyes himself that he is Manutd fan.How i wish he was but thats football.So next time we get undeserved penalty people should just shut up for that how football is anyway.
The boys played well but Welbak is not an all round attacking player.The boy just made Fabio seat back because he could not play one 2.He was a burden to the players playing around him but SAF saw it differently and played upto the end.Macheda is a promising intelligent player but had no one to feed him but was a threat.Tevez is not upto the challenge of late and SAF should not pay more than usd 15M to sign him permanently.Macheda and Fraizer are good future players.Now lets concentrate on major cups and come our roaring like LIONS."
badass
"had it been given, Moyes would have no doubt shouted that it was never a penalty... he is trying to be all gentlemanly and all!!!!!"
mancunian4life
"after that pathetic excuse for a penalty surely even Fergie must now realise that Berbatov just isnt up to this. Nobody wanted him to be signed last summer more than me but he just hasnt performed and offloading him to cover some of the supposed debt must surely now be an option with the likes of Kiko and Danny Welbeck coming through and Tevez still kicking his heels on the sidelines."
bigmak
"oh, and i really hope Everton wins it...Chelski lifting a trophy this year would make me sick!"
bigmak
"Man u fan here...and i sort of agree with what you lot said so far..most importantly the team put on by Sir Alex today clearly showed how much importance he gives to the FA Cup...
But i really wanna salute Moyes on this one....how many coaches in the premiership would admit that the other team deserved a penalty? (Sir Alex would have never said something like that :)) cant see any....big up on this one to Moyes."
RogerRedHat
"Purple nose proving once again how well he knows the meaning of the words 'hypocrite' and 'arrogance'. Once again it must be due to some external factor that his second rate players lost, not because they were cack. And he thinks Rafa is arrogant? And Moyes... great manager but I don't respect him any more either- my money says he'd be crying over the penalty that shouldn't have been given if Riley had pointed to the spot. On the whole though well done the Toffees for having the bottle."
7_Cantona
"Congrats Everton and best of luck in the final. Today we didn't get the penalty but, as they say, over the season it evens out. Can't deny Everton were deserving of a draw and then it comes down to who has the nerves in the shoot out. Pleas ehammer Chelsea in the final."
doncobaino
"fair play to everton. United have won the last 3 penalty shootouts so I can't really complain. it was a stone wall penalty and a sending off, he was through on goal for gods sake. but united weren't outplayed- neither were everton. it could've went either way. People are complaing about fergie disrespecting the FA cup for starting kids- but would anyone here start Berbatov ahead of Macheda? "
keenanlfc
"I know people say Berbatov is lazy but his penalty just proved it, that was a lazy penalty"
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