Bolton boss Gary Megson has blasted the "nonsense" penalty decision that cost his side a point at Manchester United.

The visitors were still holding Sir Alex Ferguson's side after an hour of the north-west derby when Jlloyd Samuel slid in on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Most of the stadium felt Samuel's tackle had been a good one, however despite being perfectly positioned, referee Rob Styles took the opposite view.

Ronaldo scored the penalty, paving the way for a 2-0 win and an unhappy Megson.

"It was a nonsense decision," argued Megson.

"When Rob Styles blew the whistle I thought he was going to book Ronaldo for diving. He did not seem to be sure what he was going to give.

"My thoughts on the tackle were the same as everyone else's in the stadium apart from one man. When the referee sees it again, he will have the same opinion too. It really sticks in the throat."

It is not the first time Styles has attracted criticism for a debatable penalty decision, having been briefly dropped from top flight duty 12 months ago when he gave a spot kick to Chelsea against Liverpool when Steve Finnan had barely touched Florent Malouda.

"I don't want him to ring me up," added Megson.

"I would have more respect from him if he just holds his hands up and says he was wrong.

"If he tried to justify that it will be incredible.

"I don't know if we would have gone on to get something out of the game but we certainly would not have gone 4-4-2 and we would not have made changes to try and score."