Manchester United...4 Portsmouth...1For the first-time visitors to Old Trafford among Harry Redknapp's squad, perhaps it was only natural some might be affected by stage-fright. As if the vertiginous stands were not daunting enough, plus the (occasional) din of 60,000 home fans, Redknapp's sightseers also noted that Manchester United are such monsters of their trade the "Keep off the Grass" signs were in six languages. "It ain't exactly what we're used to," said the Portsmouth manager.
At least they will be better equipped next season when they should be back in the top tier for the first time in 15 years and, with two wise owls such as Redknapp and Jim Smith in charge, will visit these sort of stadiums confident they are more than just one-off excursions.
The first division leaders certainly showed their Premiership credentials once their butterflies had fluttered away in the second half and Roy Keane had departed with a taut hamstring. Yet, Redknapp was candid enough to concede his players had been "totally overawed" throughout the opening exchanges, a period in which United scored twice to make this a tie that will ultimately be remembered, not for Portsmouth threatening an upset, but David Beckham's dead-ball accuracy and Ruud van Nistelrooy demonstrating that he has taken over from Matt Le Tissier as the most prolific penalty-taker around.
Van Nistelrooy's two converted spot-kicks maintains his 100 per cent record of having scored all of his 11 penalties as a United player, while the exquisite free-kick with which Beckham beat Shaka Hislop, and the one that thudded against the goalkeeper's upright shortly afterwards, confirms his reputation as the best bender of a ball in the English game since Johnny Metgod.
It was that sort of panache that divided the two teams, although it does not make sense to rush into premature judgments on Portsmouth's potential survival chances next season. Redknapp, having presided over a West Ham side that once conceded seven here, will not be duped.
"It would be better to judge us if we'd played a mid-table Premiership team," he said. "Along with Arsenal, this lot are on a different plateau to everyone else up there."
Even so, Redknapp will reflect what might have been had Nigel Quashie, with the score at 2-1, not wafted a gilt-edged chance into the crowd. At that stage, Portsmouth's wing-backs were pushing forward, their football was becoming increasingly fluent and they seemed to have cottoned on to the fact that Rio Ferdinand does not speak French and Laurent Blanc has trouble with Cockney rhyming slang.
"I thought we looked more likely to score than them," said Redknapp.
What he could not have foreseen was Hayden Foxe needlessly scything into Van Nistelrooy inside a penalty-area cul-de-sac.
From the 9,000 travelling fans, there were belligerent cries of bias against Mike Riley, but television pictures showed the referee got it right, just as he had done when Linvoy Primus floored Ryan Giggs in the fourth minute.
Riley had a better game than given credit for and the only aberration came in the last minute when one of his assistants declined to give offside against Paul Scholes when the midfielder dinked a clever shot over Hislop after a Veron-esque pass from the substitute Wes Brown.
Portsmouth protested that the winning margin flattered their hosts although, by the same argument, their cheeks might have burned with embarrassment that they should make it to the interval with only a 2-1 deficit, Steve Stone scoring late in the half with virtually their first attack. In fragmented periods, United brutally emphasised the gulf in status, although victory will have come at a cost if Keane, as expected, has to miss tomorrow's League Cup semi-final first leg at home to Blackburn, and possibly longer.
MANCHESTER UTD: Carroll, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Blanc, Silvestre (Brown 82), Beckham, Keane (Stewart 45), Phil Neville, Richardson (Scholes 59), van Nistelrooy, Giggs. Subs Not Used: Ricardo, Forlan. Goals: van Nistelrooy 5 pen, Beckham 17, van Nistelrooy 81 pen, Scholes 90.
PORTSMOUTH: Hislop, Primus, Foxe, Tavlaridis, Harper, Stone (Burton 89), Diabate (Pericard 45), Quashie, Taylor, Todorov, Merson (O'Neil 45). Subs Not Used: Kawaguchi, Crowe. Booked: Diabate, Tavlaridis. Goals: Stone 39.
Referee: M Riley (Leeds).
