SOCCER/FA Premiership/ Manchester City 4; Manchester United 1: Manchester City supporters are inured to cavalier, error-flecked performances at this ground, but they can never have dreamed that they would revel in one yesterday.

Their rivals, making a first visit to this new stadium, were possessed by the accident-prone spirit of the place and their slapstick efforts put them 12 points behind Arsenal in the Premiership.

Manchester United were haggard with defensive mistakes by the 90th minute, when Shaun Wright-Phillips kept the ball in play as it rolled along the paint of the right touchline, moved inside and, with Wes Brown barring his path, directed an angled chip over the head of goalkeeper Tim Howard and in off the crossbar.

The home fans crowed, revelling in their best day since they won the derby 5-1 in 1989. Their side did not let the fragility of Alex Ferguson's men go unpunished. Before the jeremiads are composed about the decline that sees United with one win in their last six matches, the way in which City negotiated this test should be honoured.

When Paul Scholes reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 35th minute from a Ryan Giggs pass, you half-expected Kevin Keegan's team would be overwhelmed. The match was strewn with opportunities then and City have no track record of doughty resistance. They might have been in a dishevelled state at the interval.

Ronaldo alone had hit the woodwork twice. He could have had an instant equaliser to Robbie Fowler's third-minute opener when David James blocked a Scholes attempt before flicking the ball into his path. The Portuguese rolled his shot against a post. Later, in the 35th minute, he almost levelled the score when his superb, dipping drive came off the crossbar.

Although United will believe the uncertainty in their back four cost them the game, credit is due City for the way in which they stifled the dangers in the second half. Keegan never comes across as a man besotted with recondite tactical issues, but his decision-making was sharp here.

Even if his hand was forced by injuries, he consciously altered his strategy while replacing Steve McManaman and Claudio Reyna. Paul Bosvelt came on to add fibre to the midfield and Wright-Phillips, redirected to a deeper position, suppressed the flair of Ronaldo, who was eventually substituted.

It had taken five months for City to fashion a companion piece to their only other home Premiership victory of the season, the 6-2 drubbing of Bolton Wanderers, but the wait might now seem worthwhile to the club's followers since it sharpened an already-keen appetite for success against United.

The worst aspect for Ferguson of this failure may be that it cannot be explained by glib reference to Rio Ferdinand's self-imposed suspension. Missed as he is, and unwise as it was of the manager not to purchase a seasoned replacement in the transfer window, Ferguson was let down by people he can usually trust.

In terms of playing time, only a few moments separated one misjudgment by Phil Neville that led to Porto's disastrous equaliser and the next that saw City move ahead here. Instead of attacking Richard Dunne's long throw-in that had been headed on by Antoine Sibierski, he awaited developments. They took the form of the right-foot touch from Fowler that nipped the ball away from the full back and the left-foot one that tucked it home in the third minute.

Half an hour later the lead was doubled as a Reyna effort deflected from the midriff of Scholes for Jonathan Macken to send the ball skipping beyond Howard.

Ferguson's side, nonetheless, appeared to have the remedy to their problems. There could have been a blitz of goals prior to the interval, had Ronaldo been luckier and Giggs more accurate in their finishing. Progress was far more difficult to achieve thereafter, but it took another mistake to polish off United.

Mikael Silvestre's touch was crude as he attempted to control a through-ball from Bosvelt and it slithered off his foot. Trevor Sinclair was predatory, bustling in behind the Frenchman to clip a shot home in the 73rd minute. United were doomed to one of their most dispiriting experiences.

Guardian Service