Rooney won't appeal red

Cape Town - Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has accepted full responsibility for his sending off against West Ham on Saturday, and admits he will not appeal against the decision.

The England international was shown a straight red card midway through the second-half of this past weekend's Old Trafford encounter after kicking out at Stewart Downing as the midfielder threatened to break on the counter-attack.

The Red Devils were still able to see out a 2-1 win, despite being down to 10 men, and Rooney has moved to apologise to his United team-mates and supporters.

He said: "I knew at the time that I misjudged it.

"It is a red card and I don't think it will benefit anyone to appeal against the decision.

"It was probably the right decision. I saw the West Ham player making a counter-attack and I tried to break-up the play but I just misjudged it.

"I apologised to the lads. It was a dangerous situation in that they were trying to break on us but I have no complaints.

"I have tried to trip him up and, to be fair to him, he got further away from me and that is why my leg is straighter than it should have been.

"As he pushed the ball away, my leg has straightened out and that is obviously why the referee has deemed it as a red card."