CHARLTON 3 MAN UTD 3
United seemed to be coasting to victory, after battling back from a goal down to lead 3-1, only to be ruthlessly punished for their complacency with Shaun Bartlett scoring twice on his home debut and John Robinson snatching an equaliser, five minutes from time.
Although the visitors looked assured in the opening stages, with Beckham starting in a central role, Charlton had the better of the early exchanges and only a fine save from Raimond van der Gouw, surprisingly included ahead of Fabien Barthez, denied Jonatan Johansson.
The Dutchman was beaten when Bartlett, who had earlier squandered a similar opportunity, was left unmarked to steer his header into the net from a Graham Stuart cross, after neat approach work down the right flank.
Johansson should have doubled the lead when springing the off-side trap, but he shot wastefully wide and United began to take a grip on the proceedings, keeping the ball superbly during some sustained amounts of pressure.
The equaliser arrived on 42 minutes when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played the ball inside to man-of-the-match Ryan Giggs, and the Welshman curled a sweet finish beyond Dean Kiely`s dive.
Still on a high after that strike, the winger, employed in a more attacking role, then attempted an outrageous volley from fully 40 yards out. Although barely in Charlton territory, his spectacular strike bounced back off the bar to leave Solskjaer with the simple task of stroking the rebound into the net.
Giggs should have added a third in the second half when he sprinted past Kiely but passed to Solskjaer and the Norwegian saw his shot well saved by the Addicks keeper. The United winger could also have claimed a wonderful goal after a run evoked memories of his famous solo effort against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi final but Kiely saved his shot, and Giggs then stabbed the rebound against a post.
It still looked as though United would triumph when Keane, moments after being denied for the second time by Kiely, collected a Giggs pass and shot goalwards, the ball entering the net because Kiely could only parry it home.
Although already resting Barthez, Ferguson then decided it was time to give Keane and Beckham a breather, depriving United of their assured midfield influences and handing Charlton a route back into the game.
With ten minutes remaining, Radostin Kishishev crossed well for Bartlett, again unmarked, to direct a header through the legs of van der Gouw. It capped a splendid home debut for the South African, who is on loan from FC Zurich.
Four minutes later, the home side were awarded a debatable free kick and Wes Brown was very harshly booked for a foul on Kishishev. Claus Jensen, impressive throughout, curled it goalwards but van der Gouw tipped it over the bar.
It proved to be only a brief respite for the visitors as Mark Kinsella cleverly headed the resultant corner to substitute John Robinson, and the Welsh international lashed the ball accurately wide of van der Gouw to make it 3-3.
Predictably, Giggs tried to rescue the three points as he turned majestically on the edge of the box but then pulled his shot across the face of goal in injury time.
It was a marvellous match, from which Alan Curbishley`s side must take great credit for their perserverance and endeavour, but it might be a warning to Ferguson not to become overly complacent in his team selection as any away match in The Premiership can be tricky, as Charlton proved.
"In fairness, Charlton never gave in and got what they deserved," said Ferguson afterwards.
"They could have been 3-0 up in the first 20 minutes. At 3-1 our side shouldn`t lose that sort of lead but we did
"It was a great bit of thinking by Giggs but the important thing was that Solskjaer followed it up - he could smell the chance. Ryan had a terrific game and was a real threat."
