Manchester United have their first victory of the season, while for West Bromwich Albion the long struggle has begun, though little else about this result is at it might appear.

If Manchester United were looking for an injection of confidence to put last season's failure behind them, this was not it. They were being comfortably held by a composed and hard-working Albion side until the visitors lost their captain just under half an hour from the end.

Even after Derek McInnes' departure for a crude challenge on Nicky Butt, the home side made hard work of breaking Albion down, but after Sir Alex Ferguson had brought on all his attacking substitutes against 10 defenders, the ever-reliable substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally found the target.

The relegation favourites may well be happier with their performance than the title chasers, however, and Albion and their fans certainly managed to enjoy themselves.

'Playing football, even at the very highest level, should always be a joy,' Ferguson said. Someone should tell his captain, who seems to have spent the past couple of seasons getting far too worked up for his own good.

Ferguson did not appear for the post-match press conference and has little to say anyway on Roy Keane's latest controversy, though he does wish his players could go back to playing with a smile on their faces.

'I felt at times last year that some of the team were not enjoying themselves when things were going wrong,' he wrote in his programme notes, in what may have been an oblique reference to Keane's evident unhappiness. 'That's a self-defeating emotion. A team that does not enjoy playing is not going to succeed.'

The manager has put his finger on something there. Self-defeating was exactly the way United appeared last season, and they still look haunted by the experience. The question is whether Ferguson can sort it out. He claims to have questioned his players' desire and asked them 'to consider carefully whether they had retreated too far into a well-paid comfort zone', but Ferguson's odd selections were part of the problem last season, and they started this one with another unusual formation.

Paul Scholes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were left on the bench as United fielded a five-man midfield with Ruud van Nistelrooy alone up front, though in practice Ryan Giggs took every opportunity to come inside and support the Dutch striker. No one appeared to have been detailed to fill in during his absence, which meant the left wing was empty much of the time. United seemed to be putting themselves under a handicap in attempting to break down Albion's well-organised defence through the middle, while at the same time their opponents were able to gain respite from the home side's pressure by breaking down the left.

That said, Albion rode their luck in the first half and could not have complained had they turned round a couple of goals down. After a forgettable first half hour Keane found himself free in front of goal in the 30th minute, though Nicky Butt's cross had already bounced when it reached him and he could not summon the power to beat Russell Hoult with a header.

Almost immediately Albion broke away down the left and Jason Roberts skipped past Laurent Blanc into the United penalty area, but in doing so he took the ball too wide to give himself a chance of catching out Roy Carroll at the near post.

Keane found both pace and accuracy with a header from a David Beckham cross two minutes later, only to see Hoult make a save on the line, then Butt took the ball round the goalkeeper and struck a post from a narrow angle with Van Nistelrooy unmarked in the centre for what would have been a simple tap in.

Keane pushed up even further forward to support Van Nistelrooy at the start of the second half, at least until Solskjaer arrived after an hour. Juan Veron, who had been having one of his better games and was more involved than Beckham or Butt, did not look too thrilled to be the midfielder asked to make way.

Scholes replaced Phil Neville 10 minutes later, an attacking gamble made possible by McInnes. He and Keane were booked within seconds of each other in the 62nd minute, though the Albion captain's caution was only for timewasting and he had little excuse for a two-footed lunge at Butt a minute later. Referee Steve Bennett produced a straight red card.

McInnes must have been kicking himself for his folly as Ferguson threw on yet another attacker in Diego Forlan 12 minutes from time, after watching Hoult acrobatically deny first Keane then Beckham. Even playing in a team with three strikers and no full-backs the Uruguayan did not manage to break his Premiership duck, but he came on just in time to see Keane and Scholes present Solskjaer with the sort of opportunity he does not miss.

Solskjaer forced another fine save from Hoult before the end of the game, increasing the mystery of why Ferguson did not start with him in the first place.

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