Leeds United had a bigger appetite admits Ferguson

Jermaine Beckford's first-half goal not only gave Leeds a famous 1-0 victory at Old Trafford, it also consigned the Premier League champions to their first third-round FA Cup exit, and their first defeat by lower league opposition in the most prestigious domestic cup competition, since they were beaten by Bournemouth in 1984.

Ferguson could offer up no excuse, or explanation, for his side's defeat.

Click here to read Simon Grayson's thoughts on a memorable Cup win >>

Click here to read Richard Sutcliffe's match report from Old Trafford >>

Click here to read Richard Naylor's thoughts on the victory >>

Click here to view the FA Cup fourth round draw >>

However, having declared he would rely on many of the younger players involved yesterday for the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Manchester City on Wednesday, the Scot has had a change of heart.

"We have a semi-final on Wednesday night and a lot of (yesterday's) players won't be playing," he said. "You have to view that performance in its right light.

"I am shocked by the performance because our preparation for the game was very good. But we never got going. The quality of the passing and whole performance was bad."

Ferguson could not resist a dig at referee Chris Foy. After a second-half punctuated by petty disputes and a stoppage-time injury to Beckford, plus five substitutions before the additional time was shown, Foy added an extra five minutes. According to Ferguson, it was not enough.

"The referee gave five minutes," he complained. "That is an insult to the game and the players out there."

It also rather deflected away from the paucity of the home side's performance.

"Leeds had far bigger appetite than us," admitted Ferguson.

"Human beings can always surprise you but we didn't expect that.

"We didn't start right, Leeds got their goal and it was something to hold onto.

"We spoke about Beckford's pace up front and we were caught napping."

Ferguson excused only substitute Antonio Valencia from criticism, which presumably also included fellow substitute Michael Owen, who had a couple of decent chances to pull United back on level terms but failed to take them.

Certainly a defence from which Nemanja Vidic pulled out after apparently complaining of an injury in the warm-up, performed well below par.

Wes Brown found himself isolated when Jonathan Howson launched his decisive long ball down field, with Beckford getting away with a heavy first touch by toeing the ball past Tomasz Kuszczak, who had been slow to react.

"I don't think any of them can say they had a good day," said Ferguson.

"It took us 10 minutes to find him but only Valencia can say he had a good performance.

"You have to get over these kind of results quickly. We have to make sure we are ready for Wednesday."

Leeds captain Richard Naylor said: "We've had to wait a long time since we last won here and I'm really proud of the lads and the supporters.

"I thought we had a few chances to make it two late on. They're always going to get chances at Old Trafford, you wouldn't expect anything else but we dug in when we had to."