Hash Brown holds back United

Last week's inference by the preposterous Miguel Angel Angulo had been that United had been so unsure of themselves that they would prefer a fix to a football match.

Perhaps Valencia had forgotten that they were trounced 3-0 at Old Trafford last season. If so, last night's reminder was not long in coming.

Cole and Giggs inter-changed a thoroughly modern double one-two as they penetrated Valencia's defence on the left. Their dexterity spreadeagled all opposition and the incisiveness of Cole's side-footed shot was as surgical as it was unflustered.

Ferguson could not have been expecting more when he called upon his players to perform like men on what he described as the 'big boy's' stage.

It was Valencia who were looking from the start to eke out another draw as economical as the goalless 90 minutes on their own ground six days earlier.

But while another deadlock promised possible passage for Valencia into the quarterfinals, United were after the win which would take a significant amount of strain out of their double-chasing season at home and abroad.

Perhaps there was a hint of the red mist as Jaap Stam and Brown were caught square by Valencia's first - and for some time only - sortie.

When Pablo Aimar - their £15m wonderboy from Argentina - applied an exquisite touch to John Carew's cutback pass, Kily Gonzalez was left with time and space to shoot over Fabien Barthez but also the

bar. United's response was two-fold.

First Gary Neville used Beckham as a decoy to cut inside and fire just as close to the Spanish crossbar. Then Stam nailed the speeding Aimar with a text-book tackle on the edge of the area.

Battle was properly joined by that intervention but it remained more a contest of touch and wit rather than pressure and physique.

In that regard, United derived huge satisfaction from becoming the first team to score against Valencia in this European group this season.

There might have been more goals to follow, and probably would have been, had Giggs not succumbed almost immediately to another recurrence of his hamstring injury. The mercurial forward feared most by Valencia coach Hector Cuper lasted only another six minutes before being replaced by Nicky Butt.

Undeterred, Cole was soon scampering away onto one of those tormenting passes from Teddy Sheringham to force a save from Santiago Canizares.

Valencia, losing finalists against Real Madrid last year, knew that defeat would represent a real threat to their progress and took time to switch into more attacking mode. When they did so, Aimar proved less accurate, pulling his shot tamely wide across goal after being put clear by Ruben Baraja.

Valencia picked up the pace at the onset of the second half and when Aimar manoeuvred Kily Gonzalez into space for the second time Barthez clung on to a threatening low shot.

When Beckham was booked for his third foul in an hour on his personal minder Amadeo Carboni, he wrote a sub-plot to the match.

The increasing frequency with which Beckham is being suppressed by the deployment of left wing backs against him is a matter of concern now for both his club and country.

Beckham was a mite fortunate not to pick up his second yellow card after a scuffle with Baraja but held his temper when Carboni clattered him.