Spurs make up the numbers

Glenn Hoddle attributed the entire result to Mauricio Taricco's dismissal just before half-time. If not for the resulting penalty converted like a bullet by Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Spurs supremo insisted his side "would have got something from the game" in the second half. Truly one wishes this were the whole truth. But it wasn't.

"Yes, Tottenham started briskly. Teddy Sheringham, on his return to Old Trafford, and Sergei Rebrov, starting in place of Les Ferdinand, combined to good effect early on. A diagonal shot from Christian Ziege went for a corner, and a low 18-yarder from Gus Poyet was turned wide. But it all died a death on the quarter-hour when van Nistelrooy put David Beckham through.

The England captain scurried through the available space to put United one up.

After that Spurs looked to be burdened with the albatross of too many memories around their collective necks. The very sponsor's name on their shirts appeared to read "5-3", the result of the previous game between these teams at White Hart Lane in September, when Spurs led 3-0 at half-time.

Sheringham was, to say the least, not at his most effective. Roy Keane on the other hand was having another of those games when he was in 57 places at once, now surging through midfield, now getting too close for comfort with a strike from 25 yards.

The visitors, though, defended stoutly. Mauricio Taricco's header clear from Beckham's dangerous cross just after the half hour was important. Dean Richards came in with a well-judged tackle when Diego Forlan - starting his first match for United - sprinted into the box. But there was a lurking sense that this was only the postponement of the inevitable.

On a blustery night when rubbish billowed over the pitch like tumbleweeds in Dodge City, the pivotal moment of the game arrived just before half-time. Taricco pulled back Paul Scholes when van Nistelrooy put him clean through, and referee Mike Riley produced a red card. The problem was that Mr Riley also awarded a penalty, much to general amazement.

"I thought it happened three or four yards outside the box and was preparing to take a free-kick," admitted Beckham afterwards. Poyet argued the case too long and was booked for his troubles, after which van Nistelrooy hammered the ball home. A grim time to concede a goal anyway, but the circumstances could hardly have been worse.

As the players trooped off for the break, there was an opportunity to read Sheringham's recollections of half-time the last time these two sides met.

"I remember coming into the dressing room and seeing smiles on people's faces," he recalled in the match programme. "That's dangerous." Probably this time his team-mates remembered not to smile, although the travelling fans did their best to tough it out.

"We're going to win 3-2," they chanted. It was difficult to decide if it was witty or sad. Either way, it was hopelessly inaccurate. Ferdinand, on for Rebrov, even squandered a chance to pull one back right after the break, skying the ball over the bar from six yards.

After that United dominated the second period so much it felt like they could have won a thousand to nil. It was one of those days when they were not even at their best - they didn't need to be - but instead simply revelled in their collective ability. They created too many chances to list.

Laurent Blanc of all people went close from 20 yards, as did Juan Veron.

Beckham's audacious attempt to chip Spurs goalkeeper Neil Sullivan went over the bar. At the near post Forlan really should have put away a dive-bomber of a Beckham cross but failed, as he did again when captain Keane put him through.

Another beautiful Beckham cross to Forlan's head was delivered straight to the keeper.

Then Sullivan caught a fabulous Beckham effort out of nothing. Gary Neville skied an excellent chance. And so on, and so on. It simply wasn't reasonable to believe, as Hoddle claimed, that an 11-man Spurs could have drawn against United under such circumstances.

Eventually, just after the hour, Forlan made up for his errors by crossing to van Nistelrooy, who unselfishly pushed it towards the better-placed Beckham, and that was 3-0.

Keane sent another effort just over the bar, before his persistence created a tight-angled cross and van Nistelrooy's dancing feet saw the ball home again.

But Tottenham's greatest humiliation came after the match, when Ferguson was sympathetic.

"They tried their hardest," he said, pityingly. He was right. They did try their hardest. But whether that made them feel better or worse - well, it's kinder not to dwell on that.