The visitors were still holding Sir Alex Ferguson’s side after an hour of the north-west derby when Jlloyd Samuel slid in on Cristiano Ronaldo.
Most of the stadium felt Samuel’s tackle had been a good one. Despite being perfectly positioned, referee Rob Styles took the opposite view.
Ronaldo scored the penalty, paving the way for a 2-0 win and an unhappy Megson.
“It was a nonsense decision,” argued Megson.
“When Rob Styles blew the whistle I thought he was going to book Ronaldo for diving. He did not seem to be sure what he was going to give.
“My thoughts on the tackle were the same as everyone else’s in the stadium apart from one man. When the referee sees it again, he will have the same opinion too. It really sticks in the throat.”
It is not the first time Styles has attracted criticism for a debatable penalty decision, having been briefly dropped from top flight duty 12 months ago when he gave a spot kick to Chelsea against Liverpool when Steve Finnan had barely touched Florent Malouda.
“I don’t want him to ring me up,” added Megson.
“I would have more respect from him if he just holds his hands up and says he was wrong.
Controversial
“If he tried to justify that it will be incredible.
“I don’t know if we would have gone on to get something out of the game but we certainly would not have gone 4-4-2 and we would not have made changes to try and score.”
Even Ferguson accepted Styles had got it wrong, although as the official has previously angered the United boss with his decision-making, he does not feel much sympathy.
“I was surprised because it looked as though their lad got a foot on the ball,” said Ferguson.
“But Rob Styles turned us down four or five times last year so maybe it is payback time. But he still owes us another four.”
Wayne Rooney’s excellent finish 11 minutes from time doubled United’s lead, the England striker’s first goal of the season a perfect response to being left out of Ferguson’s starting line-up.
That is of little consequence to Megson though, having seen an hour’s worth of honest endeavour get no reward.
“I want to see the right decisions made,” said Megson, whose side had the best chance up to that point when Fabrice Muamba fired wide from an excellent position.
“If TV replays take too long then we won’t do them but from looking at other sports, TV can do these things.
“They talk about dropping the referee but what does that solve? It is just a symbolic gesture.
“Everybody knows what happened. Jlloyd Samuel won the ball. It is astonishing.”
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Megson has every right to slam Rob Styles, watch it on M.O.T.D Tonight.
As a United fan a have to admit it was never a penalty. Shame because Bolton had given a very defensive account and it spoilt the game. However my opinion of football played that was is always the same. You deserve to lose. Even when United play that way as they did at Liverpool and lost. We deserved what we got. So did Bolton Today. Cowards football.
Sorry guys, I was rooting for you today. That penalty decision was one of the most scandalous I have ever seen. If the FA do not do anything against Styles, it really will show how pro-Rgas it really is. Bad enough they still have not done anything about the disrespect shown by Sir Pasty Face. Up until that desicion your team was looking really good.
I watched the Arse-Hull game afterwards. Hull went behind to a fair goal, and fought back. Much easier to do when down to a fair goal. It is much harder to come back from an unfair goal like that penalty. I remain incensed, what makes it worse is that it involved those blinking Rags.
Best of luck for the rst of the season. Now I have to go through all this again tomorrow. F1 and City at Wigan. Looking foward to a fair game when your team comes to Middle Eastlands.
Styles again ahnds the match on a plate to Trafford United. The man needs to sacked immediately. To be standing where the non fould was commited beggars belief.
Was that a penalty ? not from any angle ! the refs want respect then do the job properly or soon a robot will be doing it for you !
Premiership referees are supposedly full time professionals earning £100,000 a year. Some of the decisions in recent weeks have been shocking.
Mind you, has anybody seen the quality of the referees that some second division clubs get? I saw an official at Macclesfield last year give offside whilst the player was still in his own half. He didn't even know the rules. People pay good money to watch football nowadays and they expect a certain standard of officials. And they expect referees or their bosses to come out publicly and defend or apologise for decisions. You can forget any "respect the referee" campaign whilst they ignore the paying public.