City pass United test after Ronaldo sees red

Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off as Manchester United were given a derby drubbing by Manchester City.

But the Portuguese winger's dismissal was slammed by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

And Fergie's players could face a disrepute charge after they confronted referee Steve Bennett en masse to protest about the red card.

FA guidelines state that only one player - the captain - is allowed to question the official over a decision.

That was introduced after a mob of United players notoriously hounded Andy D'Urso when he awarded a penalty against them at Old Trafford six years ago.

Four players, including skipper Gary Neville, vented their fury at Bennett yesterday after he showed the red card following Ronaldo's 65th-minute lunge at Andy Cole.

Ferguson, whose unhappiness at Bennett's first-half display had led to his alleged half-time tirade at the referee, was infuriated further by the sending-off and said: "Ronaldo is not the type of player to have done what he was accused of.

"It was a rash challenge but it was not a vicious one. He had just been fouled and the player wasn't even booked for a bad tackle on him - and he got frustrated with that."

Fergie added: "We didn't defend properly and it cost us the game. We also gave the ball away too much in the last third of the pitch and we didn't get in our crosses quickly enough.

"It's very disappointing - we actually played better with 10 men after Ronaldo was sent off.

"I thought the first goal was offside. The referee needs to be strong and so does the linesman - but they weren't."

City boss Stuart Pearce agreed that Ronaldo should not have been dismissed.Pearce said: "I didn't think it was necessarily a poor challenge. It was not a sending-off."

Goals by Trevor Sinclair, Darius Vassell and Robbie Fowler gave City their third victory in the last four Manchester derbies and Ruud van Nis-telrooy's reply was no consolation for the red half of the city.

Pearce added: "We won every 50-50 challenge and our work ethic was excellent. Hopefully this victory over United will kick-start our season again."