Return of Keane overshadowed by Flitcroft volley

Blackburn Rovers 1 Manchester United

Not even the long-awaited return of Roy Keane could inspire Manchester United at Ewood Park yesterday. The turbulent Irishman made his first appearance since the end of August, but it was another combative midfielder whose goal decided it.

Garry Flitcroft's volley five minutes before half-time proved the difference between the two sides and, although United's Ruud van Nistelrooy was unusually wasteful in front of goal, Rovers had chances of their own to make their victory more emphatic.

"It's a great result for us," Flitcroft said. "We showed them too much respect in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but we've played some good stuff all season and thankfully we've got a result here that will give us confidence for the Christmas period.''

Flitcroft's decisive moment came after Paul Scholes, who had been embarrassed a couple of minutes earlier by being nutmegged by David Dunn, fouled the same player beyond the angle of the penalty area. Damien Duff floated in the free-kick, Martin Taylor won it at the far post and Wes Brown's attempt to clear only served it up for the Blackburn captain to strike home left-footed for his first goal of the season and his first ever against United.

It was a particularly sweet koment for Flitcroft, who used to ply his trade at the other Manchester club. "I got all the usual stuff about being a City reject when I arrived, so it was great to put one over on them," he said.

The goal came marginally against the run of play, with the best chances falling to United in a flurry just after the half-hour mark. The best of them came when John O'Shea beat Rovers' Lucas Neill and Diego Forlan touched on his cross for Van Nistelrooy, who blasted his shot over the top, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had one blocked and Van Nistelrooy had one saved full stretch by Brad Friedel.

The first real scare for United came when Dunn flummoxed Scholes and Fabien Barthez had to leap to tip his rasping shot over the bar. That had its knock-on effect in Scholes' unnecessary foul and United paid the price.

Blackburn had not mounted much of a threat before that. Although the ex-United strike partnership of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole was working hard, Brown and Mikaël Silvestre seemed to have the requisite pace to deal with them.

"I thought we were a little bit apprehensive in the first half and handed them the initiative," Graeme Souness, Blackburn's manager, said. "We changed that in the second half, picked up a lot more second-phase ball and caused them some problems.''

Those problems were illustrated by the way Duff slid his cross along the six-yard box early in the second half. When United did attack, Neill – outstanding in the Blackburn defence along with Taylor and Craig Short – headed away Gary Neville's cross.

Alex Ferguson, who neither appeared at nor sent an earthly representative to the post-match press conference, had earlier solved the dilemma of who should captain the side now Keane is fit by leaving both him and David Beckham on the bench, with Ryan Giggs wearing the armband.

Just before the hour mark, Keane made his first appearance in the first team since his sending-off against Sunderland on 31 August, his suspension and hip operation keeping him out of action since then. Understandably, there was more than a hint of ring rustiness about his comeback and, even when Beckham followed the same route from bench to pitch 10 minutes later, United never looked entirely convincing.

Their best chance came when Scholes touched the ball through cleverly to provide Van Nistelrooy with the sort of chance he has made a Premiership career out of converting. This time, he took the ball past Friedel before firing it wide from a narrowing angle and then he stood, hands on hips, bemused by his own fallibility.

On another day, the Dutchman could have won it for United, but as the game went on, it was Rovers who made the running and the chances. Duff put the ball across goal again, Yorke and Cole both missed late chances and the Turk Tugay Kerimoglu, a growing influence as the game wore on, skimmed both the United wall and the crossbar with a fierce free-kick.

"United are a top team and, the way they pass it around, one goal is never enough," Souness said. "It's a bit scary when Roy Keane comes on and David Beckham is about to, but we've played very well today. The front two worked their socks off, but I asked for a big performance from everyone. I know we can play football, but today we looked solid as well.'' He dismissed any connection between this result and the two clubs' appointment in the Worthington Cup semi-finals next month, but his delight with this win showed through in his frank admission that he would swap both those games for this one.

The only downside for Rovers and their manager was a freak accident that Hakan Sukur suffered on the training ground, which will delay the Turkish international's debut for the club by a couple of months. The striker, who was due to be in the Blackburn squad for the first time yesterday, broke his leg in what appeared a simple fall.

"I had a miserable night last night; I couldn't think about this game,'' Souness said. "It's a nightmare for him. He's been here three weeks and he's worked so hard and now this happens. He'll stay here and work to get right and in eight weeks you'll see him in a Blackburn shirt – Inshallah.''

Goal: Flitcroft (40) 1-0.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel 7; Neill 7, Taylor 7, Short 7, Johansson 6; Dunn 6 (Gillespie 5, 54), Tugay 7, Flitcroft 6, Duff 7; Cole 7, Yorke 7. Substitutes not used: Todd, Jansen, Ostenstad, Kelly (gk).

Manchester United (4-4-2): Barthez 6; G Neville 6, Brown 7, Silvestre 7, O'Shea 5; Solskjaer 5, P Neville 5 (Blanc, 83), Scholes 6, Giggs 6 (Beckham 5, 69); Van Nistelrooy 5, Forlan 5 (Keane 5, 58). Substitutes not used: Richardson, Ricardo (gk).

Referee: D Elleray (Harrow) 7.

Booking: Manchester United: G Neville.

Man of the match: Taylor.

Attendance: 30,475.