Ronaldo's Stroll is Hard Work for United

It had to happen, and finally it did. Four days before Bonfire Night, helped by two more goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and in spite of a spirited second-half recovery by the visitors, Manchester United climbed above Hull City in the Premier League table.

For some reason 4-3 always sounds like a thriller, but this was never quite that. United should have been out of sight by the time Hull made the last 10 minutes more interesting than they had a right to be. As at Everton last weekend, far too many golden opportunities were squandered by the home side and Hull were virtually invited back into the game.

If Phil Brown's Tigers are not burning quite as brightly after shipping seven goals in their past two games, they still look feisty enough to cause mid-table teams problems and should not reproach themselves too much for defeats at the hands of United and Chelsea. They deserve credit at the very least for coming to Old Trafford to play football and sticking to their guns even when out of the contest. Some would call their approach naive and instruct them to do the usual thing and bring a packed defence next time, though there is little entertainment in that and Hull would probably not be sitting on 20 points already by playing safety first.

Perhaps all one could offer by way of criticism is to say Manchester United found it fairly easy, having once been pegged back, to score further goals at will. With better finishing by Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov, the margin of victory could have been far greater, even allowing for the goals pulled back in the second half.

United got off to a superb start with a goal with barely three minutes on the clock. You could say they scored from their first attack, except that Ronaldo and Berbatov were not yet in concerted attacking mode - they were merely taking exploratory soundings of the Hull defence. Ronaldo reached a throw-in and wafted a backheel in the direction of Berbatov, who drilled the ball sharply back into the penalty area and found the winger's feet almost by accident. It did not look like the most deliberate of one-twos, but Ronaldo did not let that bother him, turning into space and firing a left-foot shot low past Boaz Myhill and in off a post.

It was the sort of opening any team playing here could have done without, let alone a newly promoted one in their first season in the top flight, but Hull are not called the Tigers for nothing and as Sir Alex Ferguson accepted in the match programme they are not riding so high without reason. Midway through the first half the visitors hauled themselves back into the game, taking advantage of a slightly harsh refereeing decision against Nemanja Vidic to get men forward and score from a set piece. Andy Dawson whipped in a well-flighted cross from the left and, much in the way he had with the winner at Arsenal in September, Daniel Cousin nipped in for a decisive header before United had fully appreciated the danger.

With Berbatov, Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney causing all sorts of problems at the other end, however, United were not about to be upstaged. Hull were too busy watching those three when Michael Carrick strode forward from Berbatov's pass to restore his side's lead on the half-hour, their defenders paying the penalty for backing off sufficiently to allow Carrick the glimpse of goal he needed. Another excellent pass from Berbatov almost brought Ronaldo a second two minutes later, but this time Myhill was equal to the shot. The goalkeeper was relieved to see a Rooney effort chalked off for a borderline offside five minutes from the interval, and perhaps slightly unlucky to be beaten for United's third goal on the stroke of half-time. Ronaldo might not have been the only one to get his head to Nani's corner, with a suspicion that the final touch could have come from Paul McShane.

Berbatov wasted a great chance at the start of the second half before Ronaldo fluffed two opportunities for his hat-trick, first firing wide from Berbatov's pass, then holding on a fraction too long when clean through on goal and allowing Kamil Zayatte to make a saving tackle. None of this seemed likely to matter when Vidic sidefooted in from Rooney's corner just before the hour, yet from 4-1 in front United found the game slipping out of their grasp after the introduction of Bernard Mendy as a substitute for Hull.

First, Mendy pulled a goal back, beating Patrice Evra in the air and looping a shot over Edwin van der Sar, but even at 4-2 up United's biggest problem was that they kept contriving astonishing misses rather than straightforward goals. The home fans could applaud Myhill for a terrific save from Rooney and were vaguely amused when Berbatov and Carlos Tevez squandered an ideal opportunity after Rooney had split the defence, yet the mood changed when Rio Ferdinand unnecessarily grappled Mendy to the floor to concede a penalty that Geovanni coolly accepted.

That left United clinging on in a game they could have won by double figures. Ferguson's chewing gum got an extra bashing in the last 10 minutes and, sporting a new Halloween haircut, Rooney managed to get himself booked, as only he could, for contesting a dropped ball too eagerly. Fair play to Hull, entertainment follows them around. But this was sloppy from Manchester United.