Morten Gamst Pedersen has hit back at critics who say he dived in Blackburn's 2-1 loss to leaguer leaders Manchester United.

At one stage in the game, Pedersen went down in the box when under pressure from Rafael but was not awarded a penalty much to the dismay of the player and his boss Sam Allardyce.

Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson accused Pedersen of diving but the Norwegian has denied any unruly behaviour.

"I felt something on my shoulder. He got his arms round my shoulder, that's the thing. People will probably look at my legs, but I felt something and it's not like I tried to go down," Pedersen told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

"I had a great goal-scoring opportunity and you don't want to give that away when you're here and you're fighting for your lives like we are.

"I just wanted to get the ball inside of Rafael and finish it with my right foot - that was what I was thinking about doing - but I didn't get that far.

"The first thing you do is look at him [the referee] and wait for the whistle but he didn't blow the whistle and when that happens you just get so upset and disappointed.

"I almost had to sit down for a few seconds to calm down. But then we had to pick ourselves up again and try to get back on track. We worked really hard, played a good game but it's hard when you don't get anything out of it."