Keane shows willing
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United 3
Keane 27, 80, Cole 60
Wimbledon 1
Earle 65
Attendance: 32,226
EVEN if thoughts of an early-season crisis were obviously exaggerated, Manchester United could have done without the need to prove it against aggressive Wimbledon in front of a home crowd already having doubts. But Roy Keane loves a battle and yesterday led the Old Trafford kids to an educational victory that brought a told-you-so grin from their manager Alex Ferguson.
Remember the Ferguson of 1992, the one who forgot the first law of engineering - if it ain't broken, don't fix it? The 1995 version tells us to forget his midsummer fiddling and watch the youngsters with "good motors" who, nevertheless, are hardly off the drawing board. Yesterday, United again looked under-powered without Eric Cantona, Brian McClair and Ryan Giggs, who began on the bench. It seemed no way to face a Wimbledon even more hyped up than usual after their successful start. Unsettling United has always appealed to them.
In the end it was the man on whom so much depends at United this season who found a significant gap in Wimbledon's fast retreating defence. Keane had gone up in support of a United attack that was going nowhere until he took it up on the fringe of the penalty area and curled a searching shot that found its way inside the far post.
In time, no doubt, all of the United young guard will establish themselves. David Beckham is one who will take less time than others. His confidence in taking on hard men like Vinny Jones and Andy Thorn was impressive and instrumental in forcing Wimbledon to reduce the number of their counter attacks.
In an effort to sharpen the leading edge of their attack Wimbledon replaced Gary Elkins with Jon Goodman for the second half, but by then United were beginning to fly more confidently. A flick from Paul Scholes had just struck the post, enhancing United's determination, when Andy Cole suddenly turned what until then had been a quiet performance into something worthwhile.
Picking the ball out of a crowded penalty area exactly on the hour, Cole twisted and turned to shake off Thorn, Jones and others before shooting diagonally and remarkably inside the far post. But what could at that point have become a comfortable win for United, returned to a situation of some concern. No sooner had Peter Schmeichel dived at the feet of Efan Ekoku on the goal line than he was stranded as a shot from Robbie Earle, after 65 minutes, eluded him.
Ferguson's decision towards the end to bring on Giggs for his first match of this season was instantly rewarded with a typical ball-hugging run that ended with his feeding Lee Sharpe. His powerful shot could only be pushed away by Paul Heald and Keane was there again, needing the minimum of force to tap in United's third. His goals from midfield look likely to be mightily important for United in this season of transition.
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