Reid puts referee in the dock

Sunderland manager Peter Reid launched a savage attack on referee Graham Poll last night after three players were sent off as Manchester United controversially extended their Premiership advantage to a near-unassailable 15 points.

Poll was accused of missing what Sunderland believed was a clear hand ball by Andy Cole immediately before the striker scored the only goal of an ugly game at the Stadium of Light 26 seconds after half time.

Michael Gray's protests were so vehement that he was sent off for abusive language, and 11 minutes later Cole and Alex Rae were shown the red card after a clash which ended with them appearing to butt each other.

A furious Reid was clearly struggling to keep his emotions in check as he said: 'Mr Poll ruined a good game. I saw what I saw from 40 yards and it was definitely hand ball. He was looking straight at it and that mystifies me.

'Michael shouldn't have reacted like that but if you'd heard what I said, I think I would have been sent off as well.

'You've got to have commonsense in the game and there was certainly no commonsense out there from the man with the whistle. It was a white-hot atmosphere but it wasn't a dirty game.'

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: 'It was a disappointing performance but our character and attitude got us the points.

'I keep getting asked whether the Premiership is over and hope I go into the booby trap. We don't even think about it. It's irrelevant.'

The bookies were not sharing Fergie's reticence. Ladbrokes announced they were going to pay out on a United championship almost four months early - an offer they extended to include Fulham's First Division campaign following their 2-0 win at QPR.

Birmingham earned a Worthington Cup final date with Liverpool in Cardiff later this month with a 4-1 victory at St Andrew's, 4-2 on aggregate, over Ipswich.