Manchester United's dreams of winning the treble were ended in dramatic fashion on Saturday as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Portsmouth in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

United could have been six or seven goals ahead but they were undone by a smash and grab performance from Portsmouth, with Sulley Muntari scoring the winner from the penalty spot late in the second half after substitute goalkeeper Tomas Kuszczak had been controversially sent off for a foul on Milan Baros.

"It's fantastic," Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp said.

"To come here today it was the worst draw of the lot. It was a great performance. We worked, we had a plan and we stuck with it.

"You always have to ride your luck, they are a fantastic team.

They are different class. We deserved our luck. It's a great day, great for the fans, I am delighted for them."

With Edwin van der Sar having gone off the pitch at half-time through injury, Rio Ferdinand took the goalkeeper gloves but could not stop Muntari's well-taken spot-kick.

Until that moment, United had been dominant and could and should have been ahead by at least one goal.

David James pushed a Patrice Evra shot onto the post, Michael Carrick looked certain to score but Sylvain Distin somehow scrambled the ball off the line, while Cristiano Ronaldo pulled a good chance wide.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was also incensed that his side were not awarded a penalty in the first half when Ronaldo appeared to be bundled over by Distin, while United should also have scored when Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez contrived to miss when through two against one.

Portsmouth withstood four minutes of injury time to cling on and take their place in the semi-finals thanks to their first win at Old Trafford in 50 seasons.

Ferguson was livid with referee Martin Atkinson.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," Ferguson said. "I cannot explain it.

Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week."

Ferguson also slammed referees' chief Keith Hackett.

"He's not doing his job properly and he needs to be assessed," he said. "I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people. That performance today should not be accepted by our game."

Chelsea can join them with victory at Barnsley later in the day.

Middlesbrough play Cardiff City and Bristol Rovers take on West Bromwich Albion in Sunday's games.

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