They are playing with great determination, very strong team.” However, he said he was heartened ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final between the two sides “We take a lot of credit out of the game We played with a great tenacity and intensity,” he said. “We have reminded everyone that we are not dead yet.” Ferguson did not blame goalkeeper Roy Carroll for Henry’s goal. “It was a great hit,” he added with the Arsenal manager, Ars? Wenger, saying: “It was a missile and an unexpected one. Unbelievable.” Wenger admitted that his team was “flat” after conceding a late equalising goal.”I felt really down today,” he said. “We wanted to win the game but the overall achievement of this team is so fantastic.” Arsenal have now gone 30 games without defeat in the league, a new record.

“They want so much and are so hungry that I’m disappointed even after such a record,” he said. “What these boys have done is remarkable.”Wenger was cautious when asked whether United’s title challenge was over – although he said it was unlikely that both Arsenal and Chelsea would be caught although fatigue would play its part. “I know I was not happy at 0-0 at half-time because we had given so much and on Wednesday [in the Champions' League quarter-final against Chelsea],” he said.Wenger intimated that some players on international duty this week, such as Freddie Ljungberg and, less probably, Thierry Henry, may be rested for the next encounter. Wenger was dismissive of Ferguson complaint over the penalty incident “I felt the referee had a very good game.”.

Sir Bobby Robson passed a long, disastrous afternoon staring at a stand bearing the name of Nat Lofthouse, a man he shared a pitch with in his playing days. At the age of 71, Robson might expect to be spending his weekend in a stand named after himself, probably in Ipswich, maybe in Newcastle, perhaps even in Eindhoven, dispensing white wine and memories, rather than attempting to lead a collection of misfiring individuals into the Champions’ League. Of the 11 men in black who started yesterday’s game at the Reebok, one, Jonathan Woodgate, played with immense assurance, but too many gave jaw-droppingly bad displays.Admittedly, they lost to a freak goal, but Titus Bramble might have given away a penalty for handball, while Bolton, whose own form had collapsed after losing the League Cup final to Middlesbrough, began and finished the afternoon the stronger, more composed side.Their manager, Sam Allardyce, remarked with justice that Bolton, who had not kept a clean sheet since beating Portsmouth (a team with only a marginally worse away record than Newcastle), in January “froze out” their opponents.Newcastle briefly regrouped well after falling behind. Bramble missed from five yards while Craig Bellamy, having dispossessed Emerson Thome, screwed his shot wide. Nevertheless, as the game wore on, Newcastle looked increasingly at odds with themselves; Steve Howey smothered his former team-mate, Alan Shearer, while Shay Given made two outstanding saves to prevent an even greater margin of victory.This season Newcastle have made a habit of tossing points away in the final stages of games.