Roy McFarland has admitted to being "very surprised" that the FA have charged the club with failing to control their players after the recent match at Brentford.

The FA's disciplinary committee spokesman has explained, "The referee wrote in his report that he was confronted by almost every Cambridge player at the final whistle. There was no physical contact, but from what the referee said we feel there is a prima facie charge for Cambridge to answer. They have 14 days in which to reply to the charge and could request a personal hearing."

The final whistle came barely five minutes after Brentford scored their equaliser from a penalty awarded for handball. Several United players protested at the time of Barry Knight's decision, and again at the final whistle, that it was 'ball to hand' as the ball was fired at defender Martin McNeil from close range at speed and struck his lower body and arm, which was at his side. They were doubly frustrated as United were denied a penalty for an identical looking incident at the other end earlier in the second half.

David Preece ushered the players away from Mr Knight and McFarland led a distraught Neil Mustoe away as they reached the tunnel area, and his reaction to the FA charge was to say that video evidence would prove their innocence.

He told the Cambridge Evening News, "I would never condone the harassment of a referee, but I'm sure what happened did not come into that category. In my opinion the referee made two crucial errors in the game, and the fact that the second came so close to the end led to the kind of complaint from some players you see at the final whistle in so many matches.

"The video shows the referee was not touched by any player, or forced to retreat as the official was in the recent case involving Manchester United - which brought no FA charge, something we will be pointing out. In fact, it wasn't long before our skipper Paul Wanless, as well as Scott Eustace and Shaun Marshall, led the players away. And David Preece was also there quickly. We were very surprised the referee's report should lead to an FA charge."

Cambridge United have won two national Fair Play awards in recent seasons from the Football League and Professional Footballers' Association, but earlier this season comments made to referee Kevin Lynch after the defeat at Chesterfield led to FA fines totalling £950 for McFarland, Eustace and Mustoe.