Fergie defends Reading act

Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson has defended the gesture he appeared to make towards the Reading dug-out in the Premiership at the weekend. There have been rumours that the FA could charge Fergie with misconduct.

"All I was doing was expressing my relief at winning what was one of our hardest matches of the season," said Ferguson. "Reading always make it tough for us.

"We ran so much that we clocked up more kilometres than we have in any game this season."

On the incident, Reading boss Steve Coppell said: "I've known him for many years and he hasn't lost any of his fire and he hasn't mellowed.

"He intimidates more than enough people and you have to respond to intimidation.

"But any argument with Wally Downes would definitely have been a catch-weight contest.

"Alex wasn't very happy about the amount of time the referee added on."