Containment breeds contentment

It might not have been a win, but it certainly felt like one. After several wretched displays against Man Utd we finally got it right and left Old Trafford unscathed with a 0-0 draw - and it could have been even better.

The problem in the past seems to have been that we've had some kind of inferiority complex which has meant we turn to jelly as soon as we step out onto the same pitch as them. Other sides seem to raise their game and throw everything into it, even if they ultimately get beaten, whereas in the recent past we've just rolled over meekly, fawning at their feet. Paul Scholes was probably looking forward to this fixture like a little kid waiting for Christmas, and van Nistelrooy's face probably lit up like he was about to get a carrot and some sugarcubes.

But with Woodgate once again an assuring influence, and a battered, bloodied but unbowed O'Brien standing tall alongside him in central defence, we managed to keep a third consecutive clean sheet. Of course it helped that their attack was unusually blunt, apparently incapable of slicing through us like the proverbial knife through butter that I was fearing (and, it has to be said, expecting). It was never as if we were clinging on, either - our passing was, if anything, sharper than theirs, JJ hit the bar with a thumping header and, had we had a little more self-belief going forward, we could have taken advantage of their disinterestedness and humbled them.

There's been a lot said and written about the penalty incident and referee Paul Durkin's later admission that he got it wrong - suffice to say that while I applaud the fact that he confessed to making a mistake rather than holing himself away in his dressing room, there WAS contact between Howard and Shearer and it WAS a penalty and the decision could have robbed us of a famous win. Of course penalties awarded to the opposition at Old Trafford are about as common as magnanimous comments from Fish-Eyed Ferguson - it's quite telling that the last player to score a penalty against Man Utd on their own patch was Ruel Fox, for Norwich back in 1993...

Having said all that, though, we were very lucky that Durkin ruled out Silvestre's "goal" - there was little wrong with his challenge on O'Brien, and no immediate complaint from the defender. A Man Utd victory would have been thoroughly undeserved - as it was, a single point was scant reward for a fine team performance, especially given Saturday's results for Charlton, Liverpool and Fulham.

Nevertheless, that's three games unbeaten - long may 2004 continue in the same vein.