Compare this to last season and you get the idea. Last April, United, 2-0 down, tore at Everton in the final 30 minutes to win 4-2 for a defining performance that, in effect, clinched the title. Yesterday's game might also define their campaign, but Old Trafford will not be selling many 2007-08 DVDs if it does.

It was decided by an 83rd minute goal but, in tune with a season in which they have misfired, it was not a striker who scored but Nemanja Vidic. United seem to be running out of ideas about how to score, too, because the deciding moment was a carbon copy of the strike that gave them a win over Sunderland.

Then Louis Saha headed in at the near post from a corner; yesterday it was the Serbian centre-back, who crowned an exemplary performance in United's rearguard by thumping the ball beyond Stefan Wessels.

"It was a great result, " Ferguson said, listing qualities that included effort and good defending. "We know we haven't got our strongest team at the moment but when we get our forwards back we'll be all right."

Wayne Rooney was missing and without the former Evertonian there was a lack of fluidity about United, which is breeding frustration within the team. Paul Scholes could have been sent off for two bookable offences and Cristiano Ronaldo was cautioned for diving, which brought a predictably robust defence from Ferguson.

"It was outside the box but definitely caught him, " he said. "To get a yellow card for that is ridiculous."

Those incidents apart the game had a low-key atmosphere compared to the incendiary occasions of the past.

Ronaldo was soon wandering from his flank which gave opportunities for both teams. Leighton Baines, frequently with no winger to mark, could attack with alacrity and Everton were appealing for a penalty after seven minutes when Michael Carrick tripped him on the edge of the area. Television showed the decision was right, by inches, but with Rio Ferdinand also having problems with Yakubu, the home side had the initiative until Ronaldo forced a flying save from Wessels after 16 minutes and Vidic turned and shot wide from a corner.

The mood changed late in the first half when Mikael Silvestre hurt his knee and was replaced. It was an accident but it acted as a catalyst for a mad five minutes where Scholes was booked for throwing the ball away and then tested Alan Wiley's patience with a horribly mistimed tackle on Mikel Arteta.

Scholes stayed on to play a pivotal role after 47 minutes when he cleared Andy Johnson's near-post header from Arteta's corner and he should also have scored in the supreme moment of the match nine minutes later.

Giggs' volley primed Carlos Tevez who chipped over the Everton rearguard only for Scholes to blaze over. Vidic's goal ultimately made Scholes' miss irrelevant but Everton might have made him pay for his profligacy in the closing seconds. James McFadden curled a shot that Edwin van der Sar only just tipped away and Joseph Yobo's follow-up was blocked by Ferdinand.