MANCHESTER UNITED set off on another English FA Cup run yesterday with the slightly world weary air of men for whom life had run out of surprises. They reached the fourth round with a predictable result but after an initially prosaic performance, with Eric Cantona again well below his best.

Two goals of undoubted quality, a smart piece of opportunism by Paul Scholes and an inspired free kick from David Beckham, overcame the resistance of a Tottenham Hotspur side made more stubborn by the loss of so many experienced players. Yet the unique winners of two Premier League and FA Cup doubles in three seasons have still not rediscovered their proper fluency.

Crewe or Wimbledon, and probably the latter, will visit Old Trafford in the next round. If the old chemistry has returned to Manchester United's play by then Alex Ferguson might be in the running for a Nobel prize. But the United manager is more likely to be among his Bunsens and gas jars, still searching for the right formula.

Andy Cole, out of the United side for so long, yesterday made his first start to a senior match since last year's Cup final, when he was replaced by Scholes after 65 minutes. This time he helped set up Scholes's goal, but still gave way to Ole Solskjaer with just under a quarter of an hour to go.

At the moment Scholes looks a better partner for Cantona than either Cole or Solskjaer, although yesterday Ferguson had him attacking from a midfield position. The Manchester United manager was quoted in one newspaper over the weekend as believing that Cole, signed from Newcastle in a £7 million transaction two years ago, must now be worth £10 million. But this presumes that he was worth £7 million in the first place.

The reality is that nothing much is likely to happen for Cole so long as Cantona treats him like a man who has something catching. Yesterday you would have thought Cole had got flu, such was the distance that regularly lay between the two men.

Cole's sense of isolation was particularly acute before half time because so little of consequence was reaching United's front players from a midfield which would have been utterly dominated by David Howells and Alan Nielsen had Roy Keane not produced another of his omnipotent performances.

Ferguson's declaration that "no player came within a thousand miles of Roy Keane today," was mildly hyperbolical, and if Keane really was "a planet above everybody else" then said planet was surely Mars, bringer of war. Had the Irishman's successive fouls on Nielsen and Justin Edinburgh been more than a few seconds apart he would indeed have been a red planet.

Nevertheless Keane's drive and the incisiveness of his passes preserved United as some sort of attacking force during a period when Tottenham's aim to smother the match in a blanket of possession football allied to tenacious tackling and consistent denial of space to the opposition looked capable of fulfilment.

Although injuries and flu had deprived Tottenham of Teddy Sheringham, Chris Armstrong, Steffen Iversen and Darren Anderton they were still well equipped for an exercise in containment. Gerry Francis had Andy Sinton, a natural leftwinger, in a more central role which meant that until they scored United were often crowded out when they tried to work the ball through the middle.

Once Tottenham had fallen behind, however, it was difficult to see how they could save the tie. Francis played two 19 year olds, Rory Allen and Neale Fenn, up front and was rewarded with industrious displays from both. But eventually their inexperience showed, as did that of Steve Carr when he was asked to produce an accurate centre.

Had Ryan Giggs, shrewdly timing his late run to meet Beckham's cross in the 25th minute, not headed straight at Ian Walker, Manchester United would have been spared some angst. But within five minutes of the second half the game had swung United's way.

Cole, gathering a return pass from Beckham, found Scholes in space to his left. Scholes's shot evaded Walker's left hand and Old Trafford breathed more easily.

Even then Allen should have immediately brought the scores level, shooting wide from Fenn's centre. That turned out to be Tottenham's last hope.

Ten minutes from the end Colin Calderwood, who had already been cautioned, brought down Giggs near the 18 yard line and Beckham, taking an oblique run at the ball, swung the free kick high into the top near corner of the net.

Francis insisted that the meaningful part of Tottenham's season had not been ended by their early departure from the FA Cup. But after this result, coming on top of the 6-1 League Cup defeat by Bolton and the 7-1 rout at Newcastle in Tottenham's last league match, their followers will take some convincing. And Manchester United visit White Hart Lane next Sunday.