CHARLTON ATHLETIC - 0 MAN UTD - 2: Manchester United returned to the top of the table yesterday wearing the nonchalant air of men who assumed they had a permanent reservation. Yet they made rather a meal of beating Charlton with two goals from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and had the opposition posed as much threat in open play as they did from corner kicks the contest might have been much closer.
As it was the champions only occasionally needed to move out of second gear. If United's performance hardly approached Liverpool's demolition of Ipswich the day before or achieved the attacking quality of Newcastle in the second half against Southampton, it remained ominously composed and competent in championship terms.
Alex Ferguson's team have now won 11 of their last 12 league fixtures and appear capable of staying at least half a length ahead of their pursuers for the duration.
A modicum of good fortune was with United. Early in the second half Charlton thought they had drawn level only to have the goal disallowed for a less liberal interpretation of the offside law than is now the norm. And Solskjaer's second goal followed a push by Ryan Giggs which went unpunished. That said, even when Charlton upped the tempo and increased the pressure for much of the second half his attack had hardly overworked Roy Carroll, returning to keep goal for United because Fabien Barthez had a back injury.
Nevertheless there were several sound individual performances from the home team to have the biggest crowd at the Valley for 25 years in a state of finger-crossing optimism and the United defence was never comfortable when dealing with Chris Bart-Williams's inswinging corners from the right.
But it was not enough and whenever United chose to raise their game above the languorous level at which they approached it, Charlton were left agape. Such an attitude had ended United's FA Cup ambitions, such as they were, at Middlesbrough and there was the odd moment yesterday when Ferguson's defence threatened to hand Charlton the inititiave, but Roy Keane was never going to allow that to happen.
Praise for the United captain can become repetitive but there was no escaping the fact that he bestrode this match like a latterday Gulliver trying hard not to tread on the Lilliputians. For half an hour Ferguson's side appeared set on greeting last week's announcement of their manager's delayed retirement with a stifled yawn, but then Keane produced a javelin of a pass which caught Charlton's defence between the shoulder blades.
From a position midway inside his own half the United captain played an angled ball of 60 yards towards Solskjaer, whose exquisite first touch left Mark Fish as helpless as a stranded haddock. The Norwegian striker moved across the defender before beating Dean Kiely with a shot into the far corner.
Eight minutes before half-time the combination of Mikael Silvestre's miscue and Carroll's inability to hold on to the ball first time offered Jason Euell a chance he could not quite take, shooting into the goalkeeper's body. Five minutes into the second half Euell had another opportunity but sent a free header over the bar from one of several Bart-Williams corners.
This form of set-piece remained Charlton's best hope of getting back into the contest and for a second or two they thought they had. Just before the hour another corner again found United in a dither. One shot from Costa was blocked and another, from Fish, was turned in by Stuart only to be nullified due to offside.
Stuart looked level and though Euell, waiting by the far post, was certainly in an offside position this sort of goal has been allowed to stand since the interpretation of what constitutes interference has been relaxed. At least Charlton took heart from putting the ball into United's net.
Not for long, however. With 18 minutes remaining, Keane intercepted Matthias Svensson, who had replaced Stuart in order to provide Charlton with an extra striker, and for the umpteenth time set up a counter-attack. David Beckham's cross dropped towards Giggs but the Welshman only gained possession through a shove on Kevin Lisbie.
Kiely did well to turn away Giggs's shot and Chris Powell appeared to have the ball covered as Solskjaer challenged him near the right-hand byline. But the Norwegian still managed to stretch out a leg like a tentacle to hook the ball past the left-back and into the net from the tightest of angles. ... Guardian Service
CHARLTON: Kiely, Young, Costa, Fish, Powell, Robinson, Bart-Williams, Parker, Stuart (Svensson 72), Euell (Johansson 82), Lisbie (Konchesky 82). Subs Not Used: Ilic, Fortune.
MAN UTD: Carroll, Phil Neville, Blanc, Gary Neville, Silvestre, Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs (Butt 88), van Nistelrooy (Veron 66), Solskjaer (Forlan 78). Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Irwin. Booked: Phil Neville. Goals: Solskjaer 33, 74.
Referee: A Wiley (Burntwood).
