Fergie settles for St Andrew's point

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was satisfied with a share of the spoils from the Premier League game at Birmingham on Saturday.

United trailed at half-time to a Cameron Jerome goal despite dominating proceedings and needed a controversial own goal from Scott Dann to earn a share of the spoils.

But Ferguson was unhappy with referee Mark Clattenburg's decision to send off Darren Fletcher for a second bookable offence after a challenge on Jerome. He said: "We played ever so well in the first half but at the moment Birmingham are in such good form and work so hard that I'm satisfied with a point, particularly as we ended with 10 men.

"As far as I'm concerned, I've not seen a softer sending-off for a long time. It is ridiculous.

"That referee did the Arsenal-Tottenham game earlier in the season and you needed to hit someone with an axe before he booked anyone in that game.

"There were some wonderful and weird decisions tonight. The linesman gives offside for our goal - and it's an own-goal!"

Jerome took advantage of defensive hesitancy to put Birmingham in front shortly before the interval.

Ferguson said: "To lose the goal just before half-time after dominating the game was a real sickener.

"But the most important thing is to persevere in situations like that. We have got the experience to do that.

"But this is a tough league. Birmingham have really improved since they have come into this division.

"Alex McLeish has done a fantastic job and he's got players ready to run 100 miles for him out there. He deserves great credit."

McLeish was full of pride for the way his team recovered from their lacklustre opening 45 minutes as they extended their unbeaten league run to a club record 12 games. He said: "The dressing room was very noisy at half-time because the players knew they had not reached the standards of previous games.

"But we got a great response. We were fortunate to be leading at half-time but we were a different animal in the second half.

"United still have tremendous ability even though they are missing leaders like Vidic and Ferdinand and I was proud of the way we responded."

McLeish shared a glass of wine after the match with his former Aberdeen boss Ferguson and said: "Sir Alex was very gracious and felt we played very well.

"I know the man very well and he will be disappointed not to have won the game and we all aspire to be as big a winner as he is." Regarding the sending-off, McLeish said: "When you've already been booked, you are always on thin ice when you make contact with a player."