Ferguson said: “I feel for Sheffield United but we did our best and I don’t think anyone can criticise us.
“We had 25 strikes at goal, four shots off the line and a penalty turned down. When Neil Warnock sees the stats he will understand we were unlucky.”
He added: “West Ham have been in championship form.
“They were the team in the best form coming into these fixtures.
“Whether West Ham should be in the league is not for me to say, but their keeper made a couple of fantastic saves at the end and we did all we could.
“The first half was a one-horse race, then they scored right at the end of it, which was disappointing for us but they got encouragement from it.
“We had our best team on the field at the end but we won the title last week and it is understandable that took the edge off our game a little bit, so in that sense it was a good time for West Ham to play us.”
