Saha ruins Roy's return

Manchester United 1-0 Sunderland:Forgotten man Louis Saha ruined Roy Keane's Old Trafford return with a goal that saved Manchester United's title defence suffering a blow at the hands of Sunderland.

On his first appearance since the Champions League semi-final defeat to AC Milan in May, Saha found the elusive winner 19 minutes from time giving United victory just as they looked set to lose even more ground to their major championship rivals.

Injury-plagued he might be, but Saha offers the pace, power and penetration Alex Ferguson's men have lacked throughout a stuttering campaign so far.

And the Frenchman's introduction at half-time proved the catalyst for a second-half revival following a pitiful opening period in which the hosts barely created a chance of note.

After an otherwise effective performance from his newly-promoted side, who now find themselves in the bottom three, Keane was left to reflect on £9million keeper Craig Gordon's failure to collect a Nani corner, allowing Saha the simplest task to nod home his first league goal since December last year.

Already five points adrift of Chelsea and Liverpool, it was a priceless goal for Ferguson and his team, who would surely have been left with too much to do had they not scored it. Not that Keane will be reflecting on that too much.

Dressed in a smart dark suit, the Irishman had emerged from the tunnel before kick-off, as he has done so many times before, to a rapturous reception.

Flanked by a couple of burly security guards, the Irishman turned just once and offered a half-wave to the Stretford End, but otherwise kept his hands in his pockets all the way to the visitors' dug-out.

Keane did not remain seated for long as he bounced down the steps to offer his own handshake to former team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose retirement was confirmed earlier this week.

A guard of honour from both teams greeted his arrival onto the pitch, merely emphasising a feeling of nostalgia around the Theatre of Dreams prior to kick-off.

By half-time, Ferguson was probably wishing he could turn the clock back too.

With Ryan Giggs missing after picking up a hamstring strain in training yesterday, the United boss plumped for Chris Eagles as the Welshman's replacement and handed £17million new-boy Anderson his debut while sticking Michael Carrick on the bench.

If the United boss felt his moves would offer the hosts extra penetration he was sadly mistaken.

For all their undoubted quality, neither Anderson nor strike partner Carlos Tevez are instinctive goal poachers in the Solskjaer mould.

Indeed, with Paul Scholes pushing forward from midfield and both Nani and Eagles checking in off their wing berths, the 'hole' was so full there was barely any breathing space.

Even as fiercely focused, driven and ambitious man as Keane could scarcely have imagined his side would have such a relatively easy time.

Keeper Craig Gordon was forced into a trio of decent saves, denying Tevez, Eagles and Scholes, but the Scotland keeper could hardly claim to have been extended by the limited bombardment on his goal.

United's lack of penetration was clear for all to see and his introduction of Saha for Anderson at half-time was one of the least surprising substitutions Ferguson has ever made.

Instantly, Tevez had the freedom to roam around as he wished, the Sunderland defence now fully occupied dealing with Saha's more direct approach.

Danny Higginbotham, one of four former United players in the visitors' squad, was at full stretch to prevent Saha getting on the end of Rio Ferdinand's long ball. Tevez was onto the loose ball in a flash but could not beat Gordon from 20 yards.

The Sunderland keeper was now heavily involved and he produced his best save of the match to turn away Saha's volley after the Frenchman had spun off Higginbotham.

Nemanja Vidic then turned Owen Hargreaves' corner narrowly over as United turned the screw and their next corner heralded the breakthrough.

Gordon will certainly not be wanting to look at the video again as he came to collect Nani's set piece and got nowhere near it as Saha, standing amid a pile of bodies, glanced home.

Hargreaves and Darren Fletcher wasted late chances to double United's lead at the end but with Cristiano Ronaldo and, possibly, Wayne Rooney available for the trip to Everton in a fortnight, Ferguson will just be glad to have the points in the hope of better to come in the months that lie ahead.