BY Joe Lovejoy ( The Times )

NEXT week's European date with Internazionale is supposed to be a distraction, but Lady Godiva could have cantered across Highfield Road yesterday without breaking United's concentration on their prime domestic target - the recapture of the championship.

The Premiership leaders did not play particularly well, but there was no faulting their application on a sleeves-rolled-up afternoon when Coventry matched them for long spells, but were undone by a recurring failing: their inability to translate possession and pleasing approach work into goals. Without Dion Dublin, they lack a natural centre-forward to shepherd possession and bring the best out of Darren Huckerby, who was, nevertheless, agonisingly close to equalising at the death.

Charlton's 2-0 win at Derby yesterday consigned Coventry to the bottom three, and Dublin's sale threatens to cost the Sky Blues rather more than the £5m Aston Villa paid for him.

United were nowhere near their best - a little jaded, perhaps after their midweek exertions against Arsenal on the Old Trafford mudheap - but they had sufficient of the play to deserve the win secured by Ryan Giggs's close-range goal, swept in after 78 minutes.

Their only concern after a result which maintained their four-point advantage at the top was Jaap Stam's fifth booking of the season, which brings the Dutch colossus an automatic suspension.

United put eight past Nottingham Forest the last time they played away, while Coventry were averaging less than a goal a game in the League. The leaders were the hottest favourites since Kevin Keegan.

That said, Gordon Strachan was able to point out before the match that his team had won the corresponding fixture 3-2 last season. Muhamed Konjic, his £2m defensive recruit from Monaco, was dropped to the bench. The Bosnian's start was hardly auspicious - a 4-1 defeat at Newcastle in midweek.

To point up the contrast between the haves and have-nots, supersub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is into double figures as United's third-highest scorer in the League. Third in the Coventry list is Gary McAllister, with one.Alex Ferguson made three changes after the 1-1 draw with Arsenal, recalling Denis Irwin, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in place of Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Jesper Blomqvist.

The pitch must have made United feel at home, cutting up badly from the start. The referee, Dermot Gallagher, also made an unpromising beginning, missing several obvious fouls and overruling his assistant when he was clearly in the right in ruling Andy Cole offside. "You don't know what you're doing," chorused the crowd. It was hard to put up much of a case for the defence.

The opening exchanges were as lumpy as the pitch, long on diligent effort, but disappointingly short when it came to composure and precision. Scholes, just back from suspension, was soon on his way to another one, booked after 12 minutes for a foul on Froggatt. He was lucky to stay on when he flattened Huckerby before half time.

Huckerby, the England international in waiting, tested Stam's pace and strength with a powerful surge, shoulder to shoulder, through the middle. The first chance, though, fell to Giggs after 15 minutes, when he had the time and space to do much better than blaze hurriedly over from 15 yards, wasting a glorious pass from David Beckham. Almost immediately United had the advantage of three on two in the penalty area, only for Scholes to choose the wrong option.

Then Froggatt, with a good cross from deep on the left, offered the lively, impressive George Boateng a headed chance at the far post, but the Dutchman was unable to rise high enough, and the opportunity came to naught.

Boateng was much more dangerous with a rising 25-yarder that tested Peter Schmeichel's agility and, with Coventry enjoying a purple patch, Noel Whelan was just over close in and McAllister had a potshot from the 18-yard line comfortably saved.

The first half had been full of competitive cut and thrust, but the game needed a goal to shift it up a gear.

Much improved after a tentative start, Coventry were a match for their exalted opponents in most respects, passing and moving with industry and intelligence. When United did threaten, the Sky Blues were well served by centre-halves Shaw and Williams.

The two of them were pushing out in unison after 52 minutes when Giggs's cross from the left was tucked away by Cole, who was much vexed by a very late offside flag. United were close again after 58 minutes, when Irwin's inviting low centre from the left was met by Beckham, whose shot from eight yards was goalbound until Paul Telfer's stretching, last-ditch intervention.

United were soon back again, but Cole's short cross from the right found Giggs in profligate mood again at the far post, another hurried shot well wide. Scholes was also off target with a strong drive from Beckham's centre. Something different was needed to break the stalemate, and Mancunian voices called for Solskjaer. They had their way after 73 minutes, when the Norwegian was sent on for Cole.

Boateng, set up by McAllister, threatened to win it for Coventry, but his shot from the edge of the D was blocked by Irwin. Instead, Giggs earned United all three points, sliding in at the far post after Beckham's long cross from the right had carried over everybody in the middle. Huckerby was desperately close to equalising in stoppage time but, after hooking the ball past the advancing Schmeichel from the right, he was thwarted by Henning Berg's goal-line clearance.

Coventry: Hedman, Nilsson, Burrows (Soltvedt 85), Williams, Shaw, McAllister, Boateng, Telfer, Froggatt, Huckerby, Whelan (Aloisi 64).
Booked: Burrows, Boateng.

Man Utd: Schmeichel, G Neville, Irwin, Johnsen, Stam (Berg 45), Giggs, Keane, Scholes, Beckham, Cole (Solskjaer 73), Yorke (P. Neville 85).
Booked: Scholes, Stam, Cole.
Goals: Giggs 78.

Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury).

Attendance: 22,596.