Beckham ignites the chase

Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 1

Sir Alex Ferguson felt that his team needed eight more wins to lift the Premier-ship again following their narrow victory over Aston Villa. By 5pm yesterday, though, by which time Arsenal had lost, he may have been revising his target. The race is on.

He had sympathy for Aston Villa, though: "It was a good win on a bumpy pitch, and I reckon we need eight more wins to win the title; but Villa played well and if I was Graham [Taylor] I would feel aggrieved."

The tone for the match was set from the off, as both teams looked intent on attacking. Following a frantic opening, Manchester United created the first opportunity, as David Beckham latched on to a low Ole Gunnar Solskjaer cross from the left side of the Villa box, but saw his rather lazy attempted tap-in saved by Stefan Postma, who had replaced the error- prone Peter Enckelman in goal. "I definitely should have scored that one," the England captain conceded after the game.

Villa's response was swift. Gareth Barry, who did his England prospects no harm with a splendid display on that supposedly difficult left side of midfield, saw his deep cross take a flick off Mikaël Silvestre before falling into the path of Moustapha Hadji. The Moroccan international's right-foot shot had Fabien Barthez beaten, but missed the far post by inches.

Taylor has been saying that his team play good football but let themselves down because of lapses in concentration, and he was proved right again after 12 minutes. Paul Scholes fed Ryan Giggs just inside the Villa area and the United winger spun around before delivering a dangerous cross. The Villa left-back Alan Wright looked to have the ball covered, but he let Beckham sneak up behind him to side- foot home from all of two yards. Wright was lucky not to be sent off 10 minutes later when his late lunge on Scholes left the England man in a heap on the turf.

Villa are by no means a dirty team, but less than two weeks after the unsavoury goings-on in the Birmingham derby, a minimum of restraint was in order. "We needed to play football the proper way, both on and off the pitch," Taylor said, "and on the whole we restored some sense to Villa Park, so I'm happy about that."

When they played football, the home side certainly looked dangerous. With 22 minutes on the clock, Barry's cross from the left found Dion Dublin unmarked in the area, but the 34-year-old's header missed the frame of the goal by a whisker. Moments later, Barry played yet another great ball, this time releasing Darius Vassell through the middle of Villa Park. The striker sprinted clear of the United defence but, once confronted with the advancing Barthez, shot too close to the Frenchman when much of the goal was at his mercy.

If Barry was playing well down the left, Hadji was performing equally impressively on the other flank. On the half-hour mark, he brought a Vassell pass under control 30 yards from the United goal before unleashing a stinging right-foot shot. Barthez could only watch as the ball skimmed past his post.

Creating chances is one thing, but putting them away is crucial, especially against United. Ferguson's men are masters at hitting teams on the break and they nearly doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time when Ruud van Nistelrooy brought a clever Beckham ball under control before teeing up Solskjaer. The Norwegian international was unmarked on the penalty spot but stabbed his shot over the bar.

What do you tell your players at half-time when they are creating chances but not scoring? That was the question facing Taylor during the interval. His troops re-emerged seemingly determined to make their chances count. Six minutes after the break, Vassell chased down the ball and then sent in an excellent cross towards Dublin, but his header was brilliantly palmed away by Barthez. Moments later, the unorthodox goalkeeper was at it again, this time tipping over Wright's left-foot half-volley from just outside the area.

Villa had the bit between their teeth but, as so often this season, let the moment pass. "We must start converting our chances," Taylor said. The longer the second half wore on, the more comfortable the visitors became, and the only surprise was that they did not score again. On 55 minutes, Giggs saw his terrific left-foot free-kick crash off the angle of post and bar. Villa then tried to force their way back into the game, but they were being thwarted by an increasingly resolute back four. In fact, the United defenders were threatening to steal the limelight even in attack, with John O'Shea meeting Beckham's 70th-minute corner with a firm header, which the alert Hadji did well to clear off his line.

Taylor looked for a romantic solution by introducing the former Manchester United trainee Stephen Cooke, but it was to no avail. United, it would seem, are ready to fight for this title all the way.

Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 1
Beckham 12

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 42,602