From The Touchlines

HE’S THE MAN: Manchester United’s Nani (second from right) surrounded by his teammates after he scored the only goal in a highly pulsating match against Tottenham Hotspur. United won 1-0.

New Manchester United signing Nani secured a much needed win for the team when his solitary strike killed off Tottenham Hotspur in an English Premier League match late Sunday.

Nani’s first goal on his debut at Old Trafford stopped United from having their worst start in 21 years, and gave gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson a huge relief.

And I am pretty sure Ferguson did not even mind the backflip by Nani after he had scored the goal – the kid deserved it anyway.

With Cristiano Ronaldo still suspended and Wayne Rooney still not fully fit, Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves also made their home debut with Ryan Giggs and Nani both in supporting roles.

Tottenham only took 24 seconds to sound a warning to United, when Robbie Keane’s lob from just outside the area grazed the top of the crossbar on its way out.

Spurs then held possession, but a spate of half chances ensued for United, with Tevez and Giggs unable to put the finishing touches.

It was after 19 minutes when Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov saw a fantastic chance to put his team in the driving seat, after Rio Ferdinand had a momentary lapse in concentration and allowed the ball to run, unaware that the Bulgarian was just lurking behind him.

But thankfully enough, Ferdinand’s fellow centreback Nemanja Vidic was more alert and slid in when Berbatov pulled the trigger.

Moments later, United had their chance when Hargreaves’ misdirected shot reached Ferdinand on the left, but the latter’s shot was palmed away by Spurs keeper Paul Robinson.

United turned on the style then and three minutes later, former Spurs man Michael Carrick’s shot was deflected just wide off the far post.

After 26 minutes Paul Scholes nearly scored his second goal of the new season, after Tevez had nicely pulled the ball back from the corner flag for Giggs to place the pass in the path of Scholes.

Unfortunately, his first-time shot just floated over the bar.

Nani also had another chance seven minutes from halftime, but his left-footed shot was wide.

The second half would prove to be much more entertaining than the first, if the number of chances and also a few critical moments for man-in-the-middle, Howard Webb.

Although the first few minutes yielded nothing, it was Ricardo Rocha who brought Old Trafford alive, when his header from Gareth Bale’s freekick went wide, without a challenge to speak of.

Eighteen minutes of the second half went by and the match suddenly exploded to life, when Berbatov was put through with a chance after United’s defence somehow went to sleep.

United keeper Edwin van der Sar tried his best to keep the ball out, but Berbatov managed to put in a shot that was almost certainly goalbound – only to see Ferdinand recovering well enough to clear the ball off the line.

Two minutes later all hell broke loose when Berbatov and his fellow teammates screamed wildly at Webb when his shot allegedly struck Wes Brown on his shoulder, preventing the goal.

But Webb and his linesman were having nothing of it, and as Berbatov continued to complain about the non-penalty, Webb flashed him a yellow card.

On the other end, Nani saw his angled shot punched away by Robinson, and Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas clearing off the line from Tevez’s follow-up.

But there was no denying Nani two minutes later, after he brilliantly struck the ball from a long way out, catching a slight deflection off Tevez before flying past Robinson into goal.

Old Trafford erupted, and Nani performed his trademark backflip, much to the joy of the 70,000-odd crowd.

The excitement boiled over as Spurs again called for penalties after two separate incidents of alleged handball, but the officials did not even bat an eyelid.

There were several tense moments towards the end of the match, and with four minutes of injury time United held on for a much needed win.

Team line-up

ManU: van der Sar (gk), Vidic, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra, Scholes, Carrick (Eagles, 57′), Hargreaves, Giggs, Nani, Tevez (Fletcher, 77′)

Tot: Robinson (gk), Lee, Chimbonda, Rocha (Zokora, 83′), Gardner, Bale, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Jenas, Keane (Defoe, 75′), Berbatov

IT’S ONLY JUST BEGUN: Manchester United players celebrate after winning the Community Shield against Chelsea in Wembley yesterday. United won 3-0 on penalties after a 1-1 deadlock at regulation time.

Edwin van der Sar shrugged off whatever doubts he had over his career with Manchester United when he blocked Chelsea’s three penalties to secure a Community Shield win in Wembley yesterday.

Skipper Ryan Giggs led the team up to receive the plate and their medals, but Sir Alex Ferguson was later quick to play down the significance of the match, with both teams leaving out key players for one reason or another.

In the shootout, Chelsea’s Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips were all left in disbelief when van der Sar guessed correctly the direction of their spotkicks, while United’s Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney converted theirs.

THE FINISH: Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar saves from Chelsea’s new signing Claudio Pizarro (top) and then skipper Frank Lampard, sending the United camp into celebrations, even before Wayne Rooney secured victory with the winning penalty pass Petr Cech (fourth from top).

The somehow one-sided penalties came after both teams fought out a closely contested encounter which has been dubbed by both managers as a prestigious training.

But it would seem both teams were not in the mood to be charitable to either side with blistering runs and crunching tackles.

While none of United’s new boys made the starting line-up, Chelsea presented their new signings Florent Malouda and Tal Ben Haim to the Wembley crowd.

The match was a tad cagey early on in the first half, until United winger Cristiano Ronaldo started a brilliant run on 20 minutes that saw him lay a pass to Giggs – although the ball landed on his less-favoured right foot and he shot straight at Petr Cech.

Giggs nearly scored an assist two minutes later, but Carrick somehow steered his shot wide off the far post.

Chelsea themselves came agonisingly close to drawing first blood four minutes after when Michael Essien headed Wright-Phillips’ freekick just wide, with Jon Obi Mikel failing to get a touch on the ball.

United then went on the offensive with Rooney placing a wonderful pass to Ronaldo, who, unmarked on the right, played in a very deep ball that just got a touch from Chelsea rightback Glen Johnson on its way out for a corner.

United’s Evra, who was placed on the left wing out of his usual position at leftback, still caused much anxiety when he cut in from the left – but only to see his shot wide off the mark after 31 minutes.

But if Evra could not score, he certainly knew how to turn provider when the situation called for it.

Upon receiving a brilliant cross-field pass from Nemanja Vidic, Evra played a one-two with Ronaldo, with the latter setting him free to run into the area, pulled back a pass for Giggs, who coolly steered the ball with his favoured left foot into the top corner of the net.

The Chelsea defence was left floundering in their wake as Giggs went off to acknowledge Evra’s assist.

But it was back to business soon for the Red Devils, with Rooney nearly capitalising on weak defending by Johnson when the former Evertonian latched on to Carrick’s through ball, only to see himself push the ball out.

However, Malouda, the new kid on the block would have the final say to a much improved first half, when he stabbed the ball past van der Sar after receiving a long ball from Ashley Cole and muscling his way past Ferdinand.

THE EQUALISER: Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips (left) motioning to the bench with Frank Lampard checking on Florent Malouda, who went down after levelling on 45 minutes.

After the restart, United nearly secured their one-goal advantage after Evra again got loose on the left and placed a pass to Ronaldo – whose shot was pushed into the path of Rooney by Cech.

Rooney then pulled the ball back for Giggs, but the Welshman saw his shot blocked by a Chelsea defender.

It was then one new boy came on for another when Chelsea gaffer José Mourinho brought on Pizarro for Malouda.

Pizarro did not waste time to show he was worthy of being a Chelsea player when he played a beautiful cross to Joe Cole, only to see the England midfielder waste it 10 minutes later.

United then turned on their style on 63 minutes, with Evra again teaming up with Ronaldo as the Portuguese winger picked up a loose ball from Mikel and passed it to the onrushing Evra.

Sensing some kind of danger, Chelsea’s centreback Ricardo Carvalho slid in on Evra to prevent the Frenchman from making any more headway, conceding a freekick and getting a yellow card for himself.

Ronaldo’s subsequent freekick was well held by Cech.

A string of substitutions followed, with Alou Diarra coming on for Ashley Cole and United’s new boy Nani replacing Mikael Silvestre, who had stood in place of wantaway Gabriel Heinze.

Mikel then played a perfectly weighted ball to Pizarro, but did not see the favour returned as Pizarro’s shot from the right was well saved by van der Sar. Pizarro subsequently lined up his shot, but saw it go wide off the mark.

The match was fast becoming tenacious with both sides making more substitutions than actually having a shot on target.

While debutante Steve Sidwell came on for Johnson in the 77th minute, his teammate Scott Sinclair also replaced Joe Cole. Darren Fletcher took his place on the pitch as well, replacing Giggs.

Nani’s fellow countryman Ronaldo nearly put the match beyond doubt with seven minutes to go after latching onto Mikel’s lost ball, but he could not cap off a fine run into the area when he took too long to shoot and his eventual shot was pushed out by Cech.

The closely fought match ended without much incident, but the penalties would prove to be Chelsea’s undoing as van der Sar dealt with their penalties easily and was the toast of the United camp.

FIRST SILVERWARE: Manchester United’s captain Ryan Giggs holds aloft the Community Shield trophy after the victory over Chelsea in the match yesterday. United won 3-0 on penalties, after heroics by keeper Edwin van der Sar (second from left).

Team line-up

Chelsea: Cech (gk), Cole (Diarra, 67′), Ben Haim, Carvalho, Johnson (Sidwell, 77′), Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Malouda (Pizarro, 51′), Wright-Phillips, J. Cole (Sinclair, 82′)

ManU: van der Sar (gk), Vidic, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre (Nani, 68′), Carrick, O’Shea, Evra, Giggs (Fletcher, 81′), Ronaldo, Rooney