All Manchester United's sins returned to haunt them as they threw away what looked like a straightforward three points against a team they took six from last season.

Not only was Roy Keane sent off in the final minute of the game for a spiteful elbow aimed at the new captain of the Republic of Ireland after the ball had gone, but David Beckham's temper made a comeback.

An ordinary game was enlivened by the antics of the England captain in the second half. Sven-Göran Eriksson has claimed he likes to see temperament in a player, though he may not have been too impressed with the plain silliness Beckham exhibited here, showing all his old petulance in doing his best to earn a red card after picking up a wholly unnecessary yellow one.

Rio Ferdinand was penalised near the touchline in the 55th minute, and Beckham was correctly booked by Uriah Rennie for failing to retreat the necessary 10 yards at the free-kick.

He then compounded this folly by arguing the toss with the referee, during which time Sir Alex Ferguson popped out of the dugout to add his twopenneth, and Beckham was clearly still seething as play restarted.

Had a bookmaker been available one would have put money on him going into his next challenge rashly, and sure enough he clattered into Phil Babb and seconds later fouled Michael Gray for good measure. It was comedy rather than thuggery, but Beckham was lucky to find a modern referee with a sense of humour.

Beckham's unscheduled tantrum appeared to have replaced the expected confrontation between Roy Keane and his two chief critics from the Irish team. Niall Quinn only came on for the last 10 minutes to replace goalscoring debutant Tore Andre Flo, but new Ireland captain Jason McAteer was there the whole time.

There was a brief flare-up between the two late in the second half, but nothing untoward until the final minute, when Keane stupidly felled McAteer with a cowardly elbow.

Just as well his book is already out, since he will have difficulty explaining this one away, as well as justifying another ban for violent conduct picked up in the closing seconds of a game. It is almost a year since Keane was sent off for a similarly unprovoked attack on Newcastle United's Alan Shearer.

McAteer's most notable contribution otherwise was creating Flo's equaliser. The former Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers player's persistence paid off when he recollected after Roy Carroll made a half save, and though his next effort was blocked on the line Flo was on hand to dispatch the rebound.

It was no more than Sunderland's tenacity deserved, though Manchester United will be wondering how they managed to drop another two points despite having a clear majority of chances.

Sunderland put their £8 million signing Flo straight into attack, but Marcus Stewart, his fellow pre-deadline arrival, missed the match altogether when his wife went into labour in the morning. Flo's first impression must have been that the Sunderland defence could do with a bit of strengthening too.

Happy in the 4-4-2 formation that suits them best, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer partnering Ruud van Nistelrooy and injuries to Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt simplifying the midfield situation, United broke through with ominous ease right from the start.

By way of a change from booing their own players the Sunderland fans cheered Keane's every touch for the first few minutes, but were clearly wasting their time if they were trying to rattle the United captain and were unable to keep it up. Solskjaer had already had two attempts on goal before he helped Ryan Giggs open the scoring in the seventh minute.

Sunderland failed to clear their line after a corner and were guilty of ball watching as Solskjaer won a header against Stephen Wright on the edge of the penalty area, neatly laying the ball into the place where the full-back should have been and presenting Giggs with an almost unmissable target.

If Wright was at fault for that goal he made amends on the half-hour with a terrific tackle on John O'Shea to prevent him taking advantage of a return pass from Keane.

A rising drive from Jason McAteer was tipped over by Roy Carroll and Kevin Phillips was not far wide with a shot from 25 yards midway through the first half, though the visitors always seemed the likelier to score.

Giggs had one shot saved and put another wide, Keane fired too high and Juan Sebastian Veron blazed wildly into the crowd, but the best opportunity fell to the normally reliable Solskjaer in the 24th minute.

The Norwegian could hardly have asked for a better pass from Giggs, but already travelling at speed he slightly over-hit his first touch in his eagerness and showed too much of the ball to Thomas Sorensen, who left his line quickly to make a smart save at Solskjaer's feet.

Van Nistelrooy began the second half by spurning a reasonable opportunity, Veron squandered another good shooting chance and Solskjaer, Beckham and Keane all had attempts saved before the final whistle.

United did not seem to realise there was any need for urgency until Sunderland scored to level, and by then it was too late.