Ryan Giggs claimed Manchester United had been harshly treated in the FA Cup final after his extra-time effort was ruled not to have crossed the line. Sir Alex Ferguson's side missed out on the double after Didier Drogba's goal five minutes from the end clinched Chelsea's 1-0 victory at Wembley on Saturday.
But United captain Giggs insisted it could all have been so different for the Premiership champions if a linesman had seen that his close range shot was over the line.
United felt aggrieved as also they claimed Giggs was pushed and should have been given a penalty before the Wales winger collided with Petr Cech, who then carried the ball over the line. "We felt that we played well and just edged it," Giggs said. "If that goal had been given it could have been difficult. "I knew it had crossed the line. I could not understand why it wasn't a goal. Obviously we're disappointed.
"You just hope on a day like this they get the big decisions right and on the day he didn't. I think he (Cech) was looking for the players reactions and he knew he had got away with it."
In truth, the phantom goal could have been disallowed anyway as the Giggs challenge that forced Cech and the ball over the line looked a foul.
Rio Ferdinand admitted that the luck wasn't with United and said: "Maybe it wasn't meant to be. I've not seen Giggs' one yet but that's how it goes. "That's why Cup finals are interesting because decisions go this way and that. They are always controversial.
"I saw Ryan's reaction on the pitch, but I was too far away to see if it went in. If the officials were doing their job they would have made the decision that it was over the line."
Despite a defeat that will leave United with a bitter taste until next season, Giggs is convinced his side have plenty of positives to take from a match that they had the better chances to win in normal time.
"We can take a lot out of the way we played," he said. "We said at the start of the season the Premiership would be our number one aim and we've managed to do that, but I thought we deserved something out of the game. "We've come so far. We nearly did the Double. Each season you look to move forward. I'm sure there will be new signings and the young players will get better. There's a lot to look forward to."
United's Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic insisted tiredness was not a factor despite both sides producing performances that were well below their best.
"We played a lot of games this season and it is normal to be tired, but we were no more tired than Chelsea," he said. "We had a couple of chances to win it.
"At the beginning of the season we wanted to win the Championship and we have done that. We are not happy because this was an historic game at Wembley and we lost it. "We don't need to be too disappointed though. We had a great season."