United rely on Beckham to deliver just rewards

David Beckham will rarely exert more influence on Manchester United. Here was the fantasy of perhaps the most celebrated player in the history of English football doing rather more than brush against reality. Yesterday he embraced the full measure of it in terms of his talent and the needs of the club who pay him around £100,000 a week.

Some likened Beckham's performance to the one which rescued England's World Cup qualification drive against Greece on the same ground 15 months ago. But there was a vital difference – and it was one which surely carried United away from a potentially devastating, if undeserved, defeat.

Against Greece, Beckham ran himself into so many circles he threatened to strike oil – and eventually he did with the last-second free-kick which took his desperately under-performing team to the Far East.

Here he shaped victory – which his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, said could prove utterly decisive at the climax of the Premiership race – in a moment of one-on-one cold steel with Sunderland's heroic goalkeeper, Jürgen Macho.

The breakthrough which Beckham provided came in the 81st minute – 71 minutes after an own-goal which marred the recent sharp improvement in United's defensive security.

Ironically, the equaliser was almost completely shorn of the kind of touch and rhythm which had marked most of United's 32 attempts on the Sunderland goal.

With the clock beginning to race down, Rio Ferdinand returned a goal-kick from Macho with the minimum of subtlety – and the Sunderland back four pushed forward like a row of tin soldiers. Beckham took his chance on a surging run and had the nerve to poke the ball past the diving Macho.

He said later: "My first touch wasn't the best and it put me into a one-on-one situation. Normally I would prefer to chip the goalkeeper, but that's how it happened and I had to do it. We all knew we couldn't afford to draw, let alone lose, and if we are to keep chasing Arsenal we have to produce performances like this. I thought we showed a lot of character – and courage.''

For once Beckham's comments had rather more than a rent-a-quote facility.

Certainly the winner from Paul Scholes in the first minute of added time was filled with the pugnacity and spirit which have been such staples of his career.

As Sunderland's manager, Howard Wilkinson, sweated on the possibility of avoiding another late defeat in his increasing desperate battle to avoid relegation, Wes Brown sent across a deep centre which Mikaël Silvestre managed to hook back across the front of goal. Scholes fearlessly headed through the pack of defenders.

For United, it was no less than they deserved if the only relevant measurement of such a contest is the force of creative power.

Several times Beckham produced moments of superb penetration, notably when his through-pass put Diego Forlan clear in the first moments. The South American missed the chance, but it seemed like the merest slip between a well-filled cup and the lip.

However, four minutes later came the potential catastrophe of Juan Veron's own goal.

The problem was a total breakdown in communication between the Argentinian and Ferdinand after a lob by Gavin McCann had flown off the thigh of Roy Keane. The best Veron could do was head it into his own net.

For a while it was an error that seemed of only fleeting impact. But United, for all the freedom of their running and the bite of Beckham, Scholes and occasionally Veron, were increasingly sensing that they might be the victim of one of those conspiracies which can overtake the most accomplished of teams.

The circumstantial evidence for this became almost overwhelming when Scholes drilled a shot against one post only to see it bounce off against the other.

Ferguson admitted: "At times like that you do have to wonder if it's going to be one of those days. However the boys produced some very good football and they kept at it well. David Beckham had a particularly good day. He's recovered from injury and he put in a tremendous effort. I think we are in a very good challenging position.''

Wilkinson must feel like a man who is being constantly offered a glimpse of the promised land before being pushed off the cliff edge.

His greatest pain came yesterday when Ferdinand appeared to foul Kevin Phillips in the penalty area. The referee, Graham Poll, who was quick enough to reach for the book when cautioning Sunderland's Stephen Wright for a foul on Ryan Giggs and Ferdinand for a tackle on Kevin Kilbane, chose to wave away the incident.

Wilkinson felt that a penalty at that point – when Sunderland were leading 1-0 – might have just nudged him a little closer to safety. However, that was always going to be a wild hope as long as Beckham, particularly, kept his eyes on the ball.

Fabien Barthez, the United goalkeeper, was replaced by Roy Carroll in the 29th minute after suffering a thigh strain. It was, though, a change of personnel which might have happened in the stands as far as the flow of the game was concerned.

Beckham not only rescued United but also the prospect of a travesty.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Barthez 5 (Carroll 5, 29); O'Shea 6 (Giggs 4, 63), Ferdinand 5, Brown 5, Silvestre 6; Beckham 9, Keane 6, Veron 5, Scholes 7; Solskjaer 5, Forlan 5. Substitutes not used: G Neville, P Neville, Richardson.

Sunderland (4-5-1): Macho 8; Wright 5, Craddock 4, Babb 4, McCartney 3; Flo 4 (Proctor 4, 71), McCann 5 (Williams 5, 14), Thirlwell 4, Kilbane 5, Stewart 5 (Oster, 84), Phillips 4. Substitutes not used: Sorensen (gk), Bjorklund.

Referee: G Poll (Tring) 5.