ROY KEANE finally restored the colour to Manchester United's cheeks at Old Trafford last night after the Premiership leaders had produced football as grey as the shirts they have just discarded.

For nearly an hour Leeds United, who had seen their goalkeeper Mark Beeney sent off in the 16th minute after he had handled outside the penalty area, were the better side.

But in the 72nd minute Keane gathered a deflected shot from Paul Scholes and carefully made a shooting angle before driving the ball past Lucas Radebe, who had proved a more than adequate replacement in the Leeds goal.

Having received their first defeat in 19 matches at Southampton last Saturday, Manchester United were in need of a restorative. Leeds, beaten in nine of their previous 12 Premiership fixtures, appeared the ideal opponents to help supply it, though Leeds won 3-1 when the sides met at Elland Road on Christmas Eve.

Within 15 seconds the Leeds defence nearly suffered a collective slipped disc. Keane burst through their cover on the right before setting up a chance for Eric Cantona, who was denied a goal only by Beeney's alertness in blocking the close range shot. So perhaps Leeds were not there merely for the taking.

In fact they all but took the lead in the seventh minute. Carllon Palmer's raking pass out to Andy Gray led to a corner on the right and, from Nigel Worthington's cross, Brian Deane saw a glancing header cleared off the line by Gary Pallister.

With the combination of Gary McAllister's stealth and Palmer's urgency challenging a Manchester United midfield lacking the suspended Nicky Butt, there was a buoyancy about Leeds which belied their recent form. And still Beeney refused Old Trafford the relief of an early lead, diving hard to his left in the 12th minute to push widen Keane's firmly given shot.

That turned out to be Beeney's last significant contribution to the proceedings. Four minutes later he came out to meet a long ball from Steve Bruce as Andy Cole closed in, handled a yard outside the penalty area and was sent off by Keith Cooper.

Leeds had no goalkeeper on the bench but Radebe had kept a clean sheet against Middlesbrough just over a fortnight earlier, after replacing a con cussed Lukic at half time, and he now resumed the task. Still Leeds attacked on a broad confident front, with Gray turning past David May and Pallister before drawing a full length save from Schmeichel.

Cole then began to get on Old Trafford's nerves. Three times he might have scored before halftime but on each occasion his control let him down, the last after a 40 yard pass from Neville had left the striker clear and on side.

Yet, when Manchester United did get shots on target, Radebe, a goalkeeper at the start of his football career, again showed he had not lost the knack..

For the second half Ferguson replaced McClair with Scholes to give his side more scoring potential from midfield. But a sense of desperation was creeping into United's football, not helped by Cantona scooping his shot over after one from Scholes had been blocked. It was Keane to the rescue.