UNMISSABLE. That was how United's marketing department sold this one to the United public in an effort to fill Old Trafford.

Carlos Tevez, scorer of the penalty which decided the game, may be the only one glad he didn't miss.

It was stretching advertising licence somewhat to suggest you could not afford to not witness this Carling Cup clash.

It is doubtful anyone seriously fell for the imaginative hard sell, but credit to the ideas men for some tongue-in-cheek ingenuity.

United could have done with some of that creativity so those who did turn up could tell the absentees they should have been there. For Sir Alex Ferguson's younger generation it was obviously one they didn't want to miss, despite the bad after-effects suffered by some of their predecessors after defeat by Coventry in the competition last season.

Tevez's Old Trafford stock was high enough 12 months ago for him not to have expected to cross Fergie's mind for selection in the League Cup. This term, however, things are different for the Argentinian.

If the Carling Cup is a barometer, then the 24-year-old is heading in the wrong direction. Not involved last term, he came on as a substitute against Middlesbrough in the third round and last night was in the starting line-up.

But to add to his frustration in his efforts to gatecrash the Dimitar Berbatov-Wayne Rooney first choice spearhead, he didn't really have a partner of note to help his quest to break down a heavily-manned Queens Park Rangers defence.

It was tough going for him and having watched from the bench at the Emirates against Arsenal as United created so many goal opportunities it added to his torment that they were rare on the ground against the Londoners.

Back-up

He did get some decent back-up from Anderson but largely had to search out his own chances.

In the first half, that only really amounted to a 20-yarder that was gathered comfortably by Rangers goalkeeper Radek Cerny. John O'Shea did pop up from left back in an effort to help the South American over his misery but that chance, at the near post, was turned just wide.

Anderson contributed with one decent effort that again was fumbled by Cerny but nobody was on hand to make him pay.

QPR may now have big money backers but their riches have not quite reached the football field yet as they begin the slow climb back to former glory days.

They were resilient defensively but offered nothing up front to turn this into anything but a laboured one-way effort by United. Poor old Tomasz Kuszczak may have been offered more pitch time along with Ben Foster in their duel to become Edwin van der Sar's eventual successor but it doesn't add up to much in your credit column if you don't get any work to do!

Ji-sung Park managed to bring the subdued crowd to life with a rasping right foot drive in the 56th minute that struck the post and at least showed to Tevez this wasn't going to be a one-man effort to pierce the visitors' stout resistance.

The Argentine was back to his best mix of trickery and bulldozing force after 59 minutes when he turned in the box and blasted a stinger that was guided over by keeper Cerny.

A much more dangerous United was emerging and Anderson had a pop at goal in a bid to end his outfield goalscoring duck.

The Brazilian had recently slipped a field mouse down Gary Neville's neck during training at Carrington but as the urgency level increased even he didn't have time to pick up the rodent that was loose on the pitch last night, and was picked out by the in-house TV cameras!

Unless you were a first time visitor to Old Trafford last night it was difficult to get too excited about the prospect of another half hour, so Danny Welbeck earned the gratitude of many when four minutes after coming on as a sub he drew Peter Ramage into a challenge that referee Phil Dowd spotted.

There was only one man for the job as penalty taker and Tevez's arcing run up and cool finish made certain he wouldn't blow his opportunity.

There was a moment of anxiety for United and those who wanted an early end to this lukewarm tie, not including the 9,000 who had travelled from the capital, when Rangers sub Samuel Di Camine put the ball in the back of the net only to be ruled out for offside, but Rangers' late push was not enough to make it a spectacle.

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