NO Seba Veron, no David Beckham, no Roy Keane, no Ruud van Nistelrooy, no Fabien Barthez - and it made no difference.

The team Sir Alex Ferguson put out looked like an insult to Sunderland - but in the end the so-called second string were far too good for Peter Reid's side, as an own goal from Stanislav Varga and strikes from Ryan Giggs and Andy Cole sent them racing to a deserved win.

The small band of travelling United fans - their allocation trimmed to 1,000 - sang ''United reserves!'' in gleeful mockery as the Reds eased to a simple victory.

Quality in reserve

And yet that did the likes of Cole, Nicky Butt, Luke Chadwick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a grave disservice. This team might have lacked the international superstars, but it was still a Premiership outfit of very high quality.

In fact, if the Reds were allowed to field two sides, both would qualify for Europe.

Kevin Phillips' late goal flattered the home team, and had Cole not hit the post and substitute Dwight Yorke headed against the bar, the result could have been a supreme embarrassment to Reid, in the way Ipswich were humiliated by the ''depleted'' Reds three weeks earlier.

Butt was magnificent. He must find it hard at times - he is clearly England class - yet finds his way into the United side barred by some of the finest midfielders in the world.

But there have been no signs of griping or groaning - he simply stepped in, ran the show for long periods and soon had the noisy United fans forgetting that Beckham was taking a break with his missus in Germany, and that Veron and Keane were also not there.

Ripped opponents open

The absence of such top names meant that United did not always have the breathtaking fluency which has marked their play this season, but they still managed to carve the Black Cats open time and time again.

United were bright and perky from the start as Paul Scholes burst onto Solskjaer's lovely one-touch lay-off and was denied in a one-on-one by goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

Minutes later Scholes was again through, from Chadwick's cute pass, only to be denied by Sorensen's legs.

Butt had taken the midfield by the scruff of the neck, flashing into tackles and prompting the strikers with intelligent passes and little forward darts, and the Reds were only denied by a risky Sunderland offside trap.

The Gorton grafter linked up brilliantly with Chadwick and Scholes to open an acre of space for Giggs on the left, and his curling cross-shot was clawed away by the diving Sorensen. United retrieved it and Butt rasped a shot inches wide of the post.

Alert movement

The writing was on the wall for Sunderland, and they duly went behind on 35 minutes. It appeared that a quick United break had broken down when a defender forced the ball out, but Solskjaer took a quick throw-in to keep up the momentum.

Cole was alert and laid a lovely ball down the flank for Chadwick, whose cross to the near post saw Varga, under pressure from Scholes, head past his own keeper.

United were lucky four minutes later as Phillips skipped past Laurent Blanc and fed Julio Arca. He cut inside and fired goalwards only for Wes Brown - superb on his comeback from injury - to dive in and block.

There was still time for Cole to be denied by Sorensen in another eyeball-to-eyeball situation, as United looked to wrap it up by half time.

The Sunderland fans were quick to berate Cole's misses, feeling Phillips should be ahead of him in the England pecking order.

But they failed to see the work the United man did off the ball - and note that he was at least getting chances - whereas Phillips was restricted to hopeful long-range shooting.

The introduction of sub David Bellion at half time temporarily unsettled United, and there were loud penalty claims as his dancing run into the area was abruptly ended by Brown - and for a while Reid's half-time team talk looked to have roused his side.

Classic counter-attack

United weathered the storm and moved further in front on 59 minutes. Cole led the charge from halfway, and cleverly held play up until Giggs raced through a gap, latched onto the striker's slipped pass and lifted his shot into the far corner.

There was still work to do at the back as Brown's brilliant tackle denied Niall Quinn, but Fergie decided he could start resting more players, bringing Yorke on for Giggs.

But the United fans were in carnival mood by now, and they were loving it as Scholes' back-heel set Chadwick racing at the heart of the defence again. His pass set Cole free once more and this time his shot cannoned off the post.

The third goal was inevitable, and it came on 68 minutes when Chadwick played an easy ball to Cole and the striker finally got the goal he deserved.

With seven minutes left, Phillips got an undeserved consolation - outpacing Brown before rounding Roy Carroll, but despite a late header from Varga - this time at the right end - that tested Carroll the result was never in any real doubt.

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