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Two weeks after over 52,000 fans gathered here to watch a battle between warring factions played under FA rules, slightly fewer were present for a calmer and more sedate affair. The comparative lack of atmosphere for this game though disguises the vital importance of the victory to all concerned - a first win in five games a genuine cause for celebration, and relief.

Alan Pardew had the comparative luxury of reflecting on his side's shortcomings in the wake of their having taken an early lead and held on to it thanks a fine finish from Papiss Cisse, some noteworthy blocks from Tim Krul and a welcome reticence from the visitors to commit to an all-out assault. 

Despite some widely-publicised stats about the inability of Paul Lambert's side to keep a clean sheet or win on the Sabbath, we'd seen enough of Norwich at Carrow Road before Christmas to know that both intelligence and ability could be found therein, not just some big lads winning headers up front. 

Scoring first hadn't done us a great deal of good against Fulham, Wolves or Arsenal recently and Cisse just failed to lob Ruddy in the opening moments, but United quickly went ahead through the same player and both he and Demba Ba did enough to keep Norwich on the back foot. 

Behind that duo (Ba encouragingly dropping back into centre midfield this week in search of the ball), Cheick Tiote's absence and other injury concerns were the signal for a revamped United lineup that had one or two folks scratching their heads. With Ryan Taylor knackered and Davide Santon presumably still in the naughty corner after his Gunners grilling, James Perch was relocated from covering at left back to covering in central midfield alongside the recalled Danny Guthrie. 

Meanwhile, Jonas Gutierrez filled in at left back, Yohan Cabaye started in front of him and Hatem Ben Arfa took up position down the right flank. Neither Gabriel Obertan or Shane Ferguson made the bench, but Ryan Donaldson was drafted in from reserve team oblivion to make the numbers up (had the manager wanted to make a point, he'd have presumably omitted him and named just six subs).

Both Ba and Cisse had chances to extend the lead before the interval, while referee Phil Dowd waved away confident appeals for a handball. At the other end meanwhile, some neat passing moves from City presented less danger to us than defenders dallying in possession on the edge of their own box.

Pardew told one slack-jaw seated behind the home dugout to shut it in the second half in response to a moan, but the manager was visibly animated by an earlier bout of madness from Mike Williamson, who attempted to bob and weave like an old boxer before surrendering the ball for Howson to blast his shout narrowly over. In fairness to him though, the ridiculousness of the defender's evasive action  was matched by the absence of warnings or assistance from his dumbstruck colleagues.       

Hatem Ben Arfa hit a right-footer wide after the break but United seemed only too willing to drop back as Norwich looked to push on, and has been the case too often for comfort, neither Ba or Cisse could hold the ball up. In those early moments of the second half, our grip on the three points was more than shaky, especially with memories of our mini capitulation against Wolves still reasonably fresh.

Krul had looked in some discomfort which prompted the sight of substitute 'keeper Rob Elliott briefly warming up, but the Dutchman continued and made a trio a decent saves (a precautionary MRI scan a few days later on Krul confirmed that everything was in order). 

The inevitable change came with Ben Arfa replaced, but despite Shola Ameobi warming up, Davide Santon was reintroduced at left back and Jonas pushed into a more orthodox left wing role. Shola then make his entrance, but there were still nothing more than half chances for United as they tried to finish off City who pressed forward more and more towards the closing stages. 

Steve Morison fired wide when well-placed in what proved to be City's final chance, while fellow striker Grant Holt was thankfully afforded only 13 minutes of normal time in which to try and add to his two goals against us earlier in the season.

The Sky post-match plaudits went to a bare-chested Gutierrez, who created the goal but hardly stole the show otherwise. Our own vote would have been for Perch, gave a solid display, breaking up play and boosting his side with short precise passing - the sort of thing Alan Smith might once have done.

Had Pardew's side not won today, then Sunday's journey to the Hawthorns may have undertaken with slightly more internal and external pressure coming to bear on him ahead of a game at the venue that effectively saw off his two predecessors (Kinnear and Hughton) in differing circumstances. If nothing else though, emerging speculation about messrs Krul and Tiote departing will at least give him a topic to chew on and distract attention away from his ailing side at the media briefings. 

Our recent injury list that is hardly star-studded, but it does mean that he has to coax performances from players who might otherwise see less pitch time - late sub Dan Gosling a prime example in this game, at least managing to avoid a red card against Norwich this time round. Similarly, the door may now open for Haris Vuckic, although the Mehdi Abeid advocates are getting ahead of themselves.

Retaining the spine of the side for our remaining games remains a priority, and in that regard today brought the double bonus of no new injury problems and an absence of yellow cards. Equally key to completing this season successfully though is getting Ba back among the goals - his 16 strikes to date bringing some big wins but also camouflaging some average performances earlier in the season.

While welcome, the win did little to dispel a growing feeling that we're again running out of steam well before the end of a season ("crawling over the finishing line in the manner of a failing marathon runner" as we wrote in April 2005, when in mitigation, we had made it through to both a UEFA Cup Quarter Final and an FA Cup Semi Final before the wheels fell off).

It's far too early to be even talking about finishing lines though; in athletics parlance, the bell hasn't even gone for the last lap yet, given that this was game 29 of a 38 game season (the same applies also to the current fatuous hyperbole about ten cup finals that's been spouted by some players).

On that basis, securing a Europa League place for next season could have potentially disastrous consequences for our top-flight future. Adding a dozen or more games to our current schedule runs the risk of either fielding reserve sides in competition we've bust a gut to get into (and doing likewise in domestic cups) or changing the point when we hit the wall in the league from March to January. 

Putting aside the race for points and cherry-picking games from our remaining schedule, good displays and results against Liverpool and Manchester City here would be greatly encouraging to all concerned, adding to the conviction that this really has been a successful season overall - and not just one when we occasionally came good. The worry though is that we'll be a spent force by then. 

Biffa