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*Scholes the unseen ghost dines out*

So much emphasis is given these days to individual awards, it is a mystery the name of Paul Scholes so rarely crops up. “He probably votes against himself,” Sir Alex Ferguson says of the shy man of Old Trafford. But however much Scholes dislikes the razzmatazz of black-tie occasions, the way he turned this tie upside down underlined that one day he will be forced to take his place at the top table. It could be the shortest thank-you speech of all.

Watching him ghost into the six-yard area to score twice within four second-half minutes, it was difficult, for example, to find any plausible reason why Manchester United’s lavishly gifted midfielder was not shortlisted for world or European player of the year. A similar thought could be extended to Roy Keane, whose introduction as substitute instigated a comeback that was scorching in its intensity.

Perhaps Scholes will continue to be overlooked until he replicates his most exhilarating form for England. Certainly the watching Sven-Goran Eriksson is entitled to wonder why the country’s most free-scoring midfielder has not managed a goal in his past 24 international appearances.

Not that United give a damn. Rio Ferdinand was absent with a virus yesterday but his impending ban has caused an irreparable split between the club and the Football Association, and the visiting fans amused themselves with their full repertoire of anti-England songs. When the ineffectual Darius Vassell was substituted the cry went up of “Vassell for England”. The striker gave them a confused wave, apparently unaware of how cutting Mancunian sarcasm can be.

In mitigation, Vassell was not the only player in claret and blue to face allegations of second-half spinelessness. David O’Leary’s postmortem was a story of what-ifs, specifically that their early superiority was not rewarded more handsomely than the shot from Gareth Barry that deflected off Wes Brown to squeeze inside Tim Howard’s left-hand post.

By then Howard had already blocked efforts from Vassell and Juan Pablo Angel, but Villa’s early enterprise disappeared after the interval and the blood seemed to drain from their faces when Ferguson brought on Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy after 55 minutes.

“It’s always nice to see Keane and Van Nistelrooy in their tracksuits but horrible when they start taking off their bottoms,” said O’Leary. “Once they had the full artillery out you could see their true quality. I mean, can you go round the world and name a better double act to come on?”

In particular, Keane’s arrival gave Scholes greater licence to drift forward. The equaliser was a tap-in at the end of a slick move involving Ryan Giggs, Keane and Nicky Butt, but it was the winner which truly summed up the midfielder at his elusive best. Scholes started the move with a beautifully weighted pass out to Giggs on the right and then darted into the penalty area to sweep in the cross.

“Paul Scholes is a genius,” said Ferguson. “He just ghosts into these positions and it is so difficult for defenders to pick him up.”
Others excelled too. Brown was the pick of United’s defenders in his first start for eight months, Giggs was a constant menace and Kleberson came on strongly after a difficult start. After Scholes’s quick one-two the hosts threatened only once to bring the game level, when Peter Whittingham shot tamely at Howard.

Villa will have to settle for the fading memories of a competition they once cherished, the last of seven victories coming against United in 1957. The imbalance of talent that was apparent yesterday will only have exacerbated their sense of melancholy.