Putting the boot in: Paul Scholes gets a face full of leather from Danny Mills (LaurenceGriffiths/Allsport)

The casual observer might have considered it a minor classic, with Manchester United prevailing by the odd goal in seven and Leeds all but catching them on the line. Leeds manager David O'Leary did not even see it as a great game, and his assessment was easily understood.

Great games involve all the virtues; pragmatic defending alongside swashbuckling attacking. There wasn't too much pragmatism on view at Elland Road. Instead, there were some cheap goals on offer, and United devoured their share of those spoils.

The tenacity with which they cling to their championship title inflicted a solid blow upon Leeds' own hopes of Champions League qualification.

Yet while Sir Alex Ferguson was relieved - 'Everyone expected us to drop points today, and we didn't. We just have to keep playing the way we did today' - he knows that the defending which edged them past Leeds would scarcely be sufficient to withstand Deportivo La Coruna in Spain on Tuesday.

For his part, O'Leary was frustrated beyond words. 'You can't give a team of that quality three soft goals,' he said. 'You can't defend like that. At least you've got to make them earn the right to score goals.'

You couldn't give him an argument on yesterday's evidence, for it was the strangest of games. An extraordinary first half offered only spasms of resourceful football, yet still managed to produce four goals.

United were a shade fortunate to have scored three of them, but even with Ruud van Nistelrooy watching from the bench, they still have players who can feast like gluttons on the smallest scraps.

The first originated in the eighth minute from Paul Scholes' ability to receive and distribute within a stride. It was Mikael Silvestre who collected his angled pass and as Danny Mills blundered past him like a fire engine on its way to the wrong fire, a simple, square ball was devoured by Scholes.

Leeds' plight grew more dire as Harry Kewell limped away to be replaced by Lee Bowyer, but the substitute's urgency seemed to awake the appetite in Leeds. Ian Harte swung a free-kick six inches wide, Mark Viduka provided a difficult volley for Fowler, and then the 19th minute brought equality with a superb goal.

Bowyer ran at the defence before passing to Viduka, who shuffled his feet and then rolled his shot into the far corner.

The important players were making contrasting statements. David Beckham was quiet and withdrawn. Alan Smith was revealing precisely why Sven Goran Eriksson will probably leave him behind when the flight leaves for Japan, for his game was streaked with rash, self-indulgent lunges. Robbie Fowler worked selflessly, yet it was Scholes who ran the show.

Absent from England's defeat in this same stadium on Wednesday, he showed why his presence in June will be essential.

He was instrumental in pushing United ahead in the 36th minute. As the sadly inept Mills collided with Jonathan Woodgate, Scholes found the space to strike a drive. Nigel Martyn let the ball bounce off his body, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was equal to the chance.

A minute later, Silvestre was sent galloping down the right to sweep a cross which broke to Solskjaer and crept into the Leeds net via a cruel deflection off Dominic Matteo.

We sensed that United felt reasonably comfortable when Ferguson paused to sign an autograph as he headed for the half-time dressing room, and the Leeds cause seemed lost in the 55th minute when Beckham scampered unopposed for some 60 yards before finding Giggs, who simply passed the ball into the goal.

And yet United really were not playing that well, and Leeds were summoning the spirit to make that point.

In the 59th minute, Eirik Bakke came on for David Batty and within four minutes they had generated sufficient pressure for Harte to explode a free-kick high into the net from 25 yards. Robbie Keane came on soon after, and inside five minutes he was given a free header, six yards out only to knock it wide.

But with nine minutes left, Leeds found the scuffling goal they sought, through a Keane cross, Fowler's mis-hit shot and Bowyer's timely header.

And with four minutes remaining, it seemed that Leeds would secure the point they had marginally deserved, when Harte swung his left foot at another free-kick and Barthez gave it up for lost.

It travelled a foot past the post, United's title was still in focus, and another Premiership Saturday had come panting to its conclusion.