Visiting skipper Antolin Alcaraz was the first to be issued with his marching orders, being handed a second booking for a foolish challenge on Darren Fletcher in the 59th minute.
And he would barely have had time to reach the dressing room before Hugo Rodallega followed, with Atkinson left with little option but to produce a red card following a two-footed lunge on Rafael.
The Red Devils, who were again far from their best, were already a goal to the good thanks to Patrice Evra's header shortly before half-time but they could only add more through substitute Javier Hernandez.
Martinez admitted the dismissed duo only had themselves to blame but suggested that the overall display of West Yorkshire official Atkinson had contributed to his side's defeat.
"I am not going to speak about the referee because I won't be able to be honest. It was not just those two incidents, I think it was the whole performance," the Spaniard said.
"We allowed that frustration to develop from the first minute on the small decisions - not on the big calls, we are the ones to blame in those moments, I think we should have controlled ourselves a bit better.
"I am not going to speak about the big decisions or the small decisions, I am going to respect the referee. It was unfortunate that we couldn't put on a better display, I think 11 against 11 it would have been a great game to watch in the second half."
Martinez had nothing but praise for his side, who defended superbly for the final half-hour and had taken the game to the hosts before the break before being undone by one moment of lax defending which allowed Evra to open the scoring.
He added: "Everything was going according to plan. We looked resilient, we looked strong off the ball, we were frustrating Manchester United, and slowly we were starting to have a threat, so it was disappointing to concede before half-time.
"We came to Old Trafford last season and we didn't challenge or perform and lost 5-0. Today we were down to eight outfield players and it would have been very easy to capitulate and feel sorry for ourselves.
"I saw real character and real steel, something which gives you the basics for a good platform to make sure we get a lot of points between now and the end of the season."
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