Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has gone against his recent ways and actually agreed with a referee's decision.

The Scottish tactician guided his team to a 2-0 Carling Cup win over Championship outfit Barnsley but saw another senior player in Gary Neville receive a red card - the second in three days after Nemanja Vidic was sent off against Liverpool on Sunday.

But this time, Ferguson agreed with the decision, saying Neville deserved to be given his marching orders.

"I've seen the sending off and Gary did follow through with the tackle and caught the player," said Ferguson.

"It wasn't high, just above the ankle, but in the present climate I would say that the referee was probably correct."

Ferguson went on to praise striker Michael Owen who added United's second goal with a brilliant finish and said he was happy with his team's overall performance.

"Michael's was a fantastic goal," he added. "He had such quick feet. It was a marvellous finish, just a great goal.

"Barnsley worked very hard and put in a lot of effort, and they had one or two chances after we went down to 10 men.

"But overall I think we deserved to win the game and I'm delighted with the response from the players."