As the unspeakably ineffective Diego Forlán ended his Manchester United career under cover of darkness, it was left to England striker Alan Smith to prove that Sir Alex Ferguson can still identify a quality forward when he needs to, the look of relief on the manager's face when the £7million man scored what would prove to be the winning goal speaking volumes.

As Smith himself pointed out, qualification for the next stage of the Champions League on Wednesday is vital and, given the current form of an unfamiliar looking United line-up, that may not be the formality it appears, even allowing for a 2-1 first leg lead against Dinamo Bucharest.

'Alan has done great for us,' said Ferguson. 'He's a real handful for any defender and his goal today was absolutely superb, a magnificent hit. He's a similar player in many ways to Mark Hughes, a terrific leader of the line, tough, resilient. Mark could score goals like Alan did today.'

Forlán departed for Villareal for £1.2m hours before United kicked off their second Premiership game of the campaign in the surreal position of twentieth, and last, in the table. It was probably no exaggeration to say that without Smith's performance, and given the unfamiliar look of an injury-hit United team, they might still be there this morning.

Maker of the opening goal for David Bellion, taker of the second early in the second half, Smith could still have ended up the game on the drawing side if Norwich had possessed slightly more self-belief.

Substitute Paul McVeigh scored their effort of the afternoon and guaranteed an anxious final quarter of an hour for the home side, when he collected a Gary Doherty blocked shot and converted calmly from inside the area. Had Norwich shown similar composure immediately before each of the United goals, they might have departed with more than a moral victory.

"I'm disappointed,' said Canaries manager Nigel Worthington, 'but the one thing I said to the players is they came here and didn't disgrace themselves. They played well and performed hard.'

Immediately before Bellion's opening goal in the 32nd minute, Norwich winger David Bentley, on loan for the season from Arsenal, hit the crossbar with a fantastic 30-yard shot.

Then, before Smith's excellent second, Bentley played through Darren Huckerby only for the former Manchester City forward to hurry a pathetic effort too high.

In contrast, United made no such mistakes when presented with their own openings, thanks largely to Smith. First, the England forward helped on a Ryan Giggs cross into the path of Bellion and the French youngster arrived at the far post with the presence and confidence to slot home.

It was a routine, if well-executed, training ground type of goal, but 'routine' was certainly not the word to describe Smith's effort early in the second half. Gary Neville's high ball was headed into the area by Giggs and Smith controlled the ball on his knee before volleying over his shoulder into the roof of the goal.

That should, as Ferguson pointed out, have been the springboard from which United could launch one of their perfunctory three- or four -goal home victories. But that crucial third goal never came. Instead, after McVeigh's effort, City might have snatched that equaliser - young sub Leon McKenzie coming closest as he got goalside of Roy Keane but shot into the side netting.

'It's a big week ahead, but it's big all the time here,' said Ferguson. 'At this moment we're stretched in terms of numbers but if we keep hanging in there and producing football like we are at the moment, we will be OK.'

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