Scholes sets United running

GUY HODGSON

Manchester United 3 Wimbledon 1

There have been whispers of course, there always are when a man is perceived by some as going through a mid-life crisis. There were the questionable decisions for a start, and what about hanging around with people far younger than normal?

Alex Ferguson has had to put up with a lot, from incredulity at his policies to outright calls for his dismissal. So there might have been the odd "told you so" emotion floating inside the Manchester United manager on Saturday night. The kids might be all right after all.

Andy Cole and Ryan Giggs made steps towards full fitness but even so the home side fielded six players aged 21 or under and still comprehensively beat the previously undefeated Wimbledon thanks to two goals from Roy Keane and another from Cole. "Anyone," Joe Kinnear, the visiting manager, said ruefully afterwards, "who pulls on a Manchester United shirt is going to be a good player. They are going to be bang in there at the end of the season."

No one more so, on the evidence here, than Paul Scholes, who answered the riddle of why Ferguson showed no interest in Nick Barmby with a performance rich with invention and promise. Add another six inches to his stature, give him a brooding air and it could have been Eric Cantona pulling the strings.

"In the first half he was fantastic," Bruce, Scholes' captain, said. "He's clever player with a good touch and a great awareness of what is going on around him. His only weakness is a a lack of pace, but he drops back and his speed of thought compensates." Asked to make a comparison with a current player, he arrived at the same template that has been put on Barmby: Peter Beardsley.

Expanding his thoughts to take in the whole United brood, Bruce added: "They've got ability and we know what they are capable of. The one thing they don't know is if they can last 60 games a season. They have their chance now and all of them want to grasp it."

Grasping chances looked to be United's forte on Saturday. Wimbledon had almost as much possession as their hosts but constructed very few real chances, mainly in the immediate post-interval period when Robbie Earle was twice denied by Peter Schmeichel. When Earle did finally strike, after 65 minutes, the initiative had already been grasped by Cole.

Ferguson might have been purring contentedly about his youngsters but the form of the pounds 7m man hardly disturbed his mood. Cole twisted Alan Reeves inside out and then shot into the far corner."It was a real goalscorer's goal," Ferguson said after withdrawing his striker to rest him for tonight's match at Blackburn. A win there and Ferguson will have every reason to feel vindicated.

Goals: Keane (27) 1-0; Cole (60) 2-0; Earle (65) 2-1; Keane (80) 3-1.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Schmeichel; G Neville, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin; Beckham, Keane, Butt, Sharpe; Scholes (Davies, 83), Cole (Giggs, 71). Substitute not used: Parker.

Wimbledon (5-3-2): Heald; Elkins (Goodman, 45), Perry, Thorn, Reeves, Kimble; Earle, Jones, Leonhardsen (Talboys, 83); Ekoku (Blissett, 83), Holdsworth.

Referee: P Durkin (Portland).