Everton 1 Man Utd 1:A FAMILIAR sound bellowed down the players' tunnel at Goodison Park and, for the first time this season, it was not the jeering of disgruntled Evertonians. It was Alex Ferguson employing a customary diversionary tactic from the self-indulgence that cost Manchester United more valuable ground in the defence of their title.

Witnesses reported the United manager accusing the referee Alan Wiley after the final whistle of failing to protect his players, when the champions' run of six successive victories stalled against Everton's spirited second-half revival.

Wiley would have been well within his rights to remind Ferguson that it is not the referee's job to immunise the European champions from the complacency that produced their latest meagre return from Merseyside.

Or the lack of discipline in Wayne Rooney.

Or the embarrassing antics of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Or the costly lapses in concentration from Rio Ferdinand.

"It's the referee's job to make sure the players are protected, and I don't think they were," the United manager later said, though he hinted at the truth behind two squandered points when he rued a failure to capitalise on "the golden spell" that yielded Darren Fletcher's outstanding goal.

United began in imperious form but, criminally for a team managed by Ferguson, began to believe they did not have to earn the right to play when the going looked easy against an Everton team without a home win this term.

The Goodison crowd were initially becalmed despite David Moyes displaying more adventure than usual against a "big four" opponent by fielding both Louis Saha and Yakubu Ayegbeni in attack. Ryan Giggs dominated the first half with that effortless brilliance of his but Leon Osman and the improving Marouane Fellaini began to deny him space in the second half.

The United captain's immaculate pass to Fletcher, who left Fellaini and Joleon Lescott trailing to convert through Tim Howard's legs, suggested the start of an onslaught. Five minutes later Howard made three saves of increasing quality to deny Ronaldo, Nemanja Vidic and Giggs.

United, in particular Rooney, Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov, began to saunter, believing victory inevitable. In the event, though, despite two late chances that fell to Ronaldo, the Everton goalkeeper was not tested again.

Everton's second half suggested Wiley was not the only one on the receiving end of a Glaswegian rollicking on Saturday, and an increase in tempo transformed the balance of the game to bring a deserved point when Fellaini headed Neville's cross beyond Edwin van der Sar.

Ronaldo remained on the margins throughout, remonstrating with the referee or feigning injury each time he lost the ball, while his embarrassing reaction to Neville's hard but legitimate tackle prompted a booking for the Everton captain and a 40-yard dash from an enraged Ferdinand.

The yellow card should have belonged to the Portugal international.

"It was a spot-on tackle by an honest professional who was determined to try and get his team a result and, for me, that was great to see," said Moyes. That sentence provided a stark contrast to Ronaldo's contribution.

And then there was Rooney, substituted before he could be sent off after his traditional Goodison reception caused him to lose composure.

Harshly booked for a foul on Mikel Arteta, the 23-year-old, no longer with age as a defence, began kissing the United badge in a crass response to abuse from the Park End.

Ferguson reached for the hook, but of course it was all Wiley's fault.