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