Old Trafford penalty snub has Allardyce fuming at Cup defeat

Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the third-round replay in the early stages, but also missed a second-half penalty after Jordan Spence was adjudged to have handled the ball by referee Phil Dowd.

However, Allardyce was furious the Hammers had not been given a spot-kick of their own for Rafael’s apparent handball shortly after the interval.

“There’s no doubt about the difference between Rafael’s handball and Jordan Spence’s,” he said.

“Spence plays for West Ham and the away team, while Rafael plays for the home side at Old Trafford.

“With Rafael, the ball hits his hand but no penalty is given. With Jordan Spence, the ball hits his hand and it’s a penalty.

“You see it time and time again at Old Trafford. The ref did not see Rafael’s handball because of his position. But he was in a worse position to see Jordan Spence’s than Rafael’s.”

Victory saw United through to a fourth-round tie against Fulham and United veteran Ryan Giggs was slightly relieved to get through.

“I’m pleased,” he said. “It’s the FA Cup and anything can happen. You saw that from some of the results last night, so I’m pleased to get through.

“When you’ve got players coming back from injury it can be tough sometimes. And we have to give credit to West Ham, they were tough to play against.”

It was Rooney’s ninth goal of the season and extended a purple patch that began prior to his injury, since when Robin van Persie, Hernandez and Danny Welbeck have all impressed, underlining the strength within Sir Alex Ferguson’s striking department.

After taking the congratulations of his team-mates after turning home Javier Hernandez’s square ball after only nine minutes, the England forward kissed his hands, looked to the skies and raised his arms as he walked back towards the halfway line – a touching gesture to his sister-in-law Rosie, who died last week.