Ashley Young 'overdid' fall against Aston Villa - Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says Ashley Young "overdid it" when he earned a controversial penalty in the 4-0 win over Aston Villa.

Young, who also won a spot kick against QPR last Sunday, was clipped by Ciaran Clark, although the Villa defender tried to pull his leg away.

"I think he played for the penalty," Ferguson said.

"He has definitely taken a fall, it was a dramatic fall and he overdid it, but it's a penalty definitely."

Wayne Rooney scored from the spot to give United a seventh-minute lead in the Premier League encounter before Danny Welbeck took advantage of poor defending to make it 2-0 before the break.

Rooney then picked up his 32nd goal of the season, with Nani adding the gloss late on.

Victory puts United five points clear of Manchester City with four games left and if Ferguson's team can beat Everton next Sunday, they can win the Premier League at City's Etihad Stadium on 30 April.

Villa boss Alex McLeish thought the Young incident did not merit a spot kick.

He told BBC Sport: "I didn't think it was a penalty. Ashley has thrown his leg toward Ciaran and Ciaran tries to pull his leg away.

"We know what Ashley is like in trying to sell the dummy, maybe we should have done better. That set us back because we started pretty well."

Young, who left Villa last summer, was criticised last Sunday for going down too easily when he was pushed by Rangers midfielder Shaun Derry in the 2-0 win over QPR.

Derry was sent off and QPR failed in an appeal to the Football Association to reduce his one-match ban.