MANCHESTER UNITED may not be in the same free-flowing form as Liverpool at the moment but they can still dig out victories when they need to.
This was a far from comfortable evening for the side who started the evening 10 points behind the leaders, and for an hour there was a doubt whether they would be able to take maximum points from the first of their games in hand. Yet at a point in the evening when Steven Gerrard just might have felt like smiling for the first time in 24 hours, the hitherto ineffective Dimitar Berbatov struck from close range and normal service was resumed.
United still have to sort out their best attacking formation but they have not lost the habit of keeping going at home until opponents have been subdued. Middlesbrough gave a good account of themselves and even created chances to take the lead, until sheer tiredness took its toll by the end.
Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the player-of-the-month award for November just before kick-off and appeared briefly cursed as almost all his early touches went awry, culminating in a hideously mishit shot when Park Ji-sung squeezed in a surprisingly good cross from the left. He recovered sufficiently to record United's two nearest misses of the first quarter with free-kicks.
One flew inches wide and the other was deflected into Ross Turnbull's arms, though when a square ball from Wayne Rooney set up what looked a certain opening goal on 22 minutes Ronaldo seemed to select the wrong foot and failed to hit a gaping target.
Seconds earlier Afonso Alves had suggested Middlesbrough had not come merely to defend, with a run and a shot that Edwin van der Sar was relieved to see flash over his bar, and Stewart Downing pulled a shot wide from a good position on the half hour.
Despite Boro's five-man midfield United were not faced with a blanket defence or opponents reluctant to cross the halfway line, they simply could not link their own attacking players well enough to break decisively past the visitors' back four.
Once again there was no sign of any effective understanding between Rooney and Berbatov in the final third. As promising as some of the build-up play was, it was usually for someone else's benefit other than a striker.
Until a stinging shot from Rooney brought a fine save from Turnbull on the stroke of the interval, in fact, United's best opportunities of the first half all fell to defenders.
Rafael da Silva shot into the side netting after being quickly closed down by Emmanuel Pogatetz, Nemanja Vidic put a free header uncharacteristically wide and when Berbatov, Rooney and Ronaldo all combined to leave Michael Carrick a shooting opportunity the midfielder was denied by a brave block from David Wheater.
As the teams left the pitch for half-time Ronaldo chased Pogatetz to complain about an earlier challenge, the Boro captain naturally objected and officials had to race in to separate the pair after an eyeballing session led to the briefest clash of heads.
The feud between the two continued on the pitch in the second half, with Ronaldo fouling Pogatetz near the touchline and the Boro left-back reacting theatrically, though it was the normally meek Park who received the first booking for talking Julio Arca's legs from behind.
United were out well before their opponents for the second half and were quickly into their stride, although Carrick was caught in two minds as to whether to pass or shoot and ended up scuffing the ball straight to Turnbull.
Boro's determination to keep a clean sheet saw Bates clatter into Rooney, taking the man and the ball, but Atkinson ruled it a fair challenge.
Though United were still doing most of the attacking, Boro went close again when an Alves shot struck a defender and rolled wide, after a strong initial run by Jeremie Aliadiere. The Stretford End began to chant Argentina at this point, slightly overlooking the fact that Carlos Tevez was not among the substitutes and that Alex Ferguson's attacking alternatives amounted to Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
After Boro scared United again, Tuncay Sanli missing by inches with a diving header from a great cross by Matthew Bates, Ferguson lost no time in sending on Scholes and Gary Neville.
One substitution might have been an acknowledgement that United were not being creative or clever enough going forward, the other an admission that Boro were beginning to get forward at will.
Scholes now plays too deep to claim direct responsibility for the goal that followed six minutes later, though the substitution worked inasmuch as Michael Carrick was free to join an attack and send over a cross from the left. Wheater made a hash of dealing with it and ended up presenting Berbatov with an opportunity to volley in from near the penalty spot, a difficult chance but one the striker accepted with aplomb.
Park should have wrapped up the points four minutes later but managed to miss from a yard out when Neville's cross to his feet appeared to have done all the work.
MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva (Neville 62), Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Park, Fletcher (Scholes 62), Carrick, Ronaldo (Giggs 84), Rooney, Berbatov. Subs not used: Kuszczak, Welbeck, Gibson, Possebon. Booked: Park, Scholes.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Turnbull, Bates, Riggott, Wheater, Pogatetz, Aliadiere (Emnes 76), O'Neil, Arca, Downing, Sanli, Alves. Subs not used: Jones, Taylor, Huth, Shawky, Porritt, Walker.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
