United's grand slam

IN THE glory-glory world that is Manchester United, every day is supposed to be like this. But United know better than most that it is never easy to make reality live up to the myth. But that is what happened yesterday, when a "once in a lifetime" performance, as Alex Ferguson described it, brought them their biggest League win of the century.

Even in the context of a match against opponents who are surely destined for relegation, this was the stuff of history, not least for the five goals which confirmed Andy Cole as a star worthy of the Old Trafford firmament.

Three first-half goals were impressive enough. But the six in the second half saw United on a different plane altogether, while wiping out at a stroke Blackburn's superior goal-difference. When the story of the season comes to be written, this may prove to have been one of the most significant moments.

As it is, Blackburn still lead the Premiership by three points. United have plenty left to do, and for all the euphoria that surrounded this triumph, it does not guarantee them a third successive title, much as it may have confirmed their supporters' belief that while other teams may be good, none are quite this special.

For Cole, who had never scored more than three in a match, the afternoon did not begin awfully well. Running on after Paul Ince had caught the Ipswich defence wrong-footed, he merely succeeded in treading on the ball, an embarrassing moment which suggested that United, not for the first time, might make heavy weather of disposing of lesser opposition.

Indeed, Ipswich did not look like surrendering immediately, playing tidily through midfield, and in Alex Mathie, their recent signing from Newcastle, possessing a front man whose positional sense and sure first touch briefly unsettled the United defence.

But after 15 minutes, all this was made to look like nothing more than delusions of adequacy when United went ahead. The build-up was down the left, and when Mark Hughes crossed to Roy Keane on the edge of the area, Ipswich stood and waited to see what would happen next - a low shot from the Irishman which went in off a post almost apologetically.

Within eight minutes United were two up, with another goal that left Ipswich looking a bit silly. Frank Yallop had little to fear as he collected the ball just inside his own half, but when Ryan Giggs charged down his pass upfield, the alarm started to sound. Giggs was lucky that the ball did not run out of play, but he made the most of it by running and crossing low for Cole to angle a low shot past Craig Forrest.

Cole's second, after 36 minutes, will be remembered more for what preceded it - a stupendous bicycle-kick from Hughes which thumped against the bar and fell nicely for his team-mate to knock it over the line.

Ipswich have produced a couple of unlikely results away from home this season, drawing at Newcastle and winning at Liverpool, but even though Mathie had a shot cleared off the line by Brian McClair, this was never going to be another. Indeed, within 20 minutes of the start of the second half, a severe case of subsidence had turned into total collapse as United constructed passing movements whose effect on both opposition and the crowd was almost mesmeric.

United's fourth might have been credited to Cole, but it was Yallop who appeared to head into his own net from Denis Irwin's chip. Hughes then got two in five minutes; a shot in off the bar and a header after Forrest had parried from Giggs. Cole followed up McClair's shot to make it three for him and seven for the team, and one began to wonder just how competitive this Premiership really is.

By now, Old Trafford was overflowing with festivity, and the small section of Ipswich fans gamely joined in the Mexican waves, while one name rang out from their Manchester counterparts, who had not forgotten that all this was being achieved without Eric Cantona.

For Ipswich, the final indignity seemed to have come after 72 minutes, when Forrest was booked for handling outside his area. Before Ipswich could organise themselves, Hughes knocked the free-kick to Ince, who lobbed the eighth goal into an empty net from 30 yards. United then failed to score for 16 minutes, before Cole ended the barren spell two minutes from time.