’Xavi? Iniesta? There’s only one player they always talk about’

THERE may have been something symbolic in the way in which Alex Ferguson put together his team for the most important derby in his near quarter of a century in Manchester football, packing the team with Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, three homegrown players with a combined age of 106 and the experience of many glorious campaigns past.

But, by the time the 93 minutes of largely lacklustre action was complete, Ferguson’s judgement, yet again, had been vindicated.

Giggs was United’s best performer of a first half in which the visitors managed to put their cocky hosts on the back foot, Neville turned in a magnificent performance at right-back where he stifled Craig Bellamy for all but one attack, one in which the City forward shot hopelessly into the side-netting under pressure from the 35-year-old defender.

Scholes? Scholes, 35 years young and fresh with a one-year contract extension signed on Friday, simply controlled the game, dominating a midfield, in which United outnumbered City until Roberto Mancini threw on Patrick Vieira deep into the second half, and still had the energy to ghost into the area with 20 seconds of the three added minutes remaining and head Patrice Evra’s cross past the dive of Shay Given.

Is there a more admirable, durable and consistent performer in the history of the Premier League? Possibly not, and to hear his team mates, and rivals, talk about Scholes is to realise that the veteran may be a once-in-a-lifetime type of player.

“A lot of players say that in Holland, even Italy and elsewhere,” said United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar when asked to discuss Edgar Davids’ claim that Scholes is one of the best players he has ever seen.

“His image isn’t that big, and of course he’s not into publicity and all that side of things, but I know that every year the big players recognise the quality of Scholesy.

“His passing ability, his technique, scoring ability. That sort of thing. Even Xavi and Iniesta are talking about him, so many players have a lot of respect for him as a player and for what he has done for United. As a player you are always concerned with how many games you’re getting. I can’t look in his mind of course, but you want to play as many as possible and, of course, at a certain age that’s not always possible.

“For the benefit of your health and being available all season, there are certain games where you’re going to miss out or when the gaffer is going to choose someone else ahead of you. So, when you get a chance you have to take it. Scholesy has been scoring goals for a long time and while he might not be a box-to-box player anymore, in the 93rd minute he still popped up with a great goal.”

A great goal but, also, one that may be hugely significant in the destiny of the league title this season, certainly following events at White Hart Lane later on Saturday.

Given Chelsea’s defeat, a point would not necessarily have heralded the end of United’s title defence although in the early afternoon Manchester sunshine on Saturday, it certainly felt that way. Meanwhile, a point for City would have been perfectly acceptable, given the edge they then held over Tottenham in the chase for fourth place.

That made City’s gung-ho attitude, and the wayward, ill-advised pass played by Bellamy in the 93rd minute which opened the way for United to launch their last, fatal counter attack, all the more ridiculous. City have lost three of their four meetings with United this season, all to last second goals, which made the home team’s late carelessness in this latest encounter all the more inexcusable.

“Sometimes a squad of players with big experience can score a goal in the last seconds but I think that 99% of the time it is lucky,” said City manager Roberto Mancini, somewhat gracelessly. “In the three games we have played against United since I’ve been manager we have played well in every game and for that I am content but today I am disappointed because we didn’t deserve to lose.

“We had a lapse of concentration. In the final minutes you must try and keep the ball and play slowly because the game is finished.

“It was a hard defeat to accept because we lost in the final seconds but we are still in a good position. We have four games left – difficult games – but at the end of the season I am still confident we will finish fourth. In the four months I’ve been here we have improved a lot and in the next year we will continue to get better.”

If City fail to clinch fourth, Mancini may not even be back at Eastlands to try and bring about such improvements and, for a club that invested around £250m in new talent last summer, there are still glaring flaws in their squad.

Wayne Rooney, looking far from his sharpest after his recent ankle problem, and Giggs both wasted chances to put United in front in a disappointing first half while City had to wait until a late scramble, from a corner which van der Sar failed to deal with, for a couple of shots that were blocked by desperate defending.

Given the history of this season’s meetings between these old rivals, those were chances City could ill afford to miss.

MATCH RATING: 2/5 – A low score in terms of quality of game but a huge one in terms of the result’s importance in the Premier League table … for this week at least.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (Leeds) 7: Has now presided over United’s two league derby wins this season, both with late equalisers. This was less controversial than the first and the official handled the game well.