United showing signs of anxiety

SOCCER/Portsmouth 2 Manchester Utd 1: Beneath the roar of battle there is a rustling noise. It is the sound of pages being turned as managers glance at the Premiership table and then have another obsessive stare at the fixture list.

Even Alex Ferguson's hands may tremble ever so slightly, and his side's anxiety was also apparent on the Fratton Park pitch

Manchester United's gift of plucking a goal out of thin air vanished and their lead in the Premiership has been halved to three points. The side bowed to its own limitation. For once, the lack of an orthodox centre-forward told on them to a degree. United scored purely because the otherwise excellent David James fumbled an effort from the substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to the feet of John O'Shea.

Ferguson had run out of solutions. With the squad already undermined by injuries, the only changes to the starting line-up from Rome last Wednesday saw Solskjaer and Ryan Giggs replaced by Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson. The latter alteration was costly.

Richardson, failing to control the ball, was robbed of it by Sean Davis after half an hour. The midfielder fed it through to Benjani and his strong shot was pushed inadequately into the centre of the goalmouth by Edwin van der Sar. Matthew Taylor pursued the loose ball with more purpose than Rio Ferdinand and forced it home.

United's stand-in captain endured a greater ignominy after 89 minutes, rolling a pass-back beyond Van der Sar and into his own net. Ferdinand ought to have checked the goalkeeper's position, but the Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp exonerated the centre-half, insisting Van der Sar had been too close to his team-mate.

Whatever the experts make of it, there was a natural readiness on Redknapp's part to champion Ferdinand, a footballer he developed at West Ham. The manager has been around for so long that his career is a fine mesh of associations, and mid-afternoon was spent with Ferguson watching football coverage on television.

"We were talking about Peterborough; his boy's team got done in the last minute," Redknapp reported. "He knows every division; he's like me. He's talking about Mansfield, and how Macclesfield have done well with Incey. He lives for the game."

All the same, it would be wrong to treat the pair as companionable old codgers. This was Portsmouth's third victory over United in four seasons and Redknapp's West Ham denied Ferguson the Premiership title in 1995 with a draw at Upton Park. A relative rather than a fellow manager felt warmly disposed to him at full-time. Chelsea's Frank Lampard is his nephew. Ferguson had to make do with kindly words.

"You've still got to fancy United," Redknapp argued. "They've got a better run-in, they've got three points in hand and better goal difference."

With a win at home over Sheffield United a week tomorrow, Ferguson's team can double their lead 24 hours before Chelsea go to Upton Park.

United remain in a favourable position, but the condition of the squad is worrying. While James produced splendid saves from Cristiano Ronaldo and Giggs in the second half, the onslaught could not be sustained. Sheer pride led to a flurry in the last few seconds when the Portsmouth goalkeeper stopped the substitute Alan Smith from equalising.

Some individuals did wane. Ronaldo, on the left wing after the interval, was quelled by the unyielding Lauren.

Portsmouth, with the injured Sol Campbell unavailable, gritted their teeth yet also had openings. Nemanja Vidic and Gary Neville are missed terribly in Ferguson's back four. In their absence, tomorrow's return leg with Roma in the Champions League will jangle nerves at Old Trafford.

Taylor could have had another goal on Saturday and Van der Sar also palmed a Davis attempt behind smartly in the 65th minute.

United, however, were unfortunate and perhaps Wayne Rooney would have levelled in the second half had he not been ruled offside wrongly.

The attacker's other frustration came with magnificent challenges from Linvoy Primus when the defender was millimetres away from conceding a penalty instead.

The crowd chanted "Linvoy for England" and it did not sound all that silly as the 33-year-old centre-half kept United at bay.

Guardian Service

Premiership title run-in

Tue, Apr 17th v Sheffield Utd (h)

Sat, Apr 21st v Middlesbrough (h)

Sat, Apr 28th v Everton (a)

Sat, May 5th v Manchester City (a)

Wed, May 9th v Chelsea (a)

Sun, May 13thv West Ham (h)