London, Mar. 22 : Sir Alex Ferguson was left red faced after brilliant performance of Fulham stunned his nine-man Manchester United.

As United imploded at Cottage, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney both got their marching orders.

Danny Murphy slotted home a spot-kick after Scholes was dismissed for handling in the area, The Sun reports.

Zoltan Gera''''s strike sealed the victory for the Cottagers before Rooney saw red late on for throwing the ball at ref Phil Dowd.

United boss Ferguson questioned the decision but admitted his side were second best.

"Did he throw the ball at the referee? No. He threw it because he wanted to get the game going. What can you say about that? There wasn''''t a bad tackle in the game but John Pantsil was booked in the first half for nothing - it was just a tackle," he said.

Ferguson said that in the second half of the game his team did really well, but seemed upset with the match results.

"They were lively and got stuck in and we respect that - they lost 4-0 to us a couple of weeks ago. But it''''s disappointing we didn''''t meet the challenge. If you lose games in March and April it can cost you," he said.

"Fortunately we have a slender lead at the moment but not a lot and I''''m hoping we come back from the internationals back to our best."

Cottagers coach Roy Hodgson insisted United are still favourites to retain the Premier League. (ANI)