BY Ian Hawkey ( The Times )

A CHORUS of boos, a few choice bruises, but otherwise little out of the ordinary from this Mother of All Fixtures. Clear away the furniture packed around David Beckham's visit to West Ham United, the weight of the price tag hanging around the neck of the Manchester United debutant, Dwight Yorke, and it left a feisty, but often scratchy contest, with little to remember it by from events on the field.

Beckham's display, punctuated by a monotony of jeers from the supporters who have made most public their disappointment at his sending-off for England during the World Cup, was less ordinary than a number of others. Certainly, it caught the eye more than Yorke's, whose contributions had the conspicuous character of the freshman, still to be bedded in as the chief spearhead of the biggest club in the land.

As for the eyes worth catching, Glenn Hoddle came to Upton Park, observing, and presumably hearing the sound and the fury cast down on the United player from beyond the touchlines. The wing is not the most convenient place to operate under circumstances such as Beckham's yesterday.

Were Hoddle's gaze drawn elsewhere, it may have been to Rio Ferdinand, who had a good day at the heart of an impressive West Ham defence. Likewise Henning Berg for United. The men at the back were mostly on top, though John Hartson, still short of match fitness, put himself about and Andy Cole once or twice found a gap without it leading to a first United victory in the Premiership. A point apiece, but more war than peace.

Besides Beckham, there were enough sub-plots for three volumes of Dickens. There would, however, be no beauty contest between Dwighty and Wrighty, the West Ham striker postponing his home debut because of a "dead leg" sustained in training on Friday. Still Ian Wright's thunder would not be stolen. Paraded before his new fans before the kick-off, he remarked: "I can't believe I've got such a welcome from West Ham fans."

Beckham could have believed his all right. His name during the roll-call had been granted a perfunctory jeer - saving their breath for a long afternoon's work - and his first touch the same. It was enough of a touch, however, to set up the game's opening salvo, a through-ball picking out Giggs, whose centre, to the far post, appeared dangerously Cole-bound, until Neil Ruddock cleared, apparently with the help of an arm.

Beckham led the vigourous appeals for a penalty. Ruddock said later: "I got away with that one. It was more a case of ball to hand than hand to ball. But it wasn't cheating, or whatever you want to call it." Referee Peter Jones called it a corner.

Mr Jones can hardly have learned of his assignment to this game with great glee, either. Apart from the abuse directed at Beckham, there would be Ruddock's confrontation with Andy Cole, whose leg Ruddock once broke. And when Roy Keane and Steve Lomas are on the undercard, the bout can hardly be mistaken for a featherweight joust. By the second minute, Jones had entered in his book the name of Hartson, who only started because of Wright's 11th-hour withdrawal. By the 90th, three others had joined him.

Too many stray passes meant there would be a number of forceful clashes. Keane conceded a free kick following an awkward challenge on Berkovic, and Hartson danced treacherously along the narrow boundary between push and shove - and the still thinner one marked out by United's offside trap. Much of what he and Trevor Sinclair tried was admirable in conception, but missing something in execution. When Lazaridis stretched United's reargurad with his runs wide on the left, however, West Ham looked capable of breakthrough.

Lomas sent a drive high over the bar and became, volubly from the away end, a "City reject" - everybody had travelled here with some sort of baggage. Sinclair drove low across the goalmouth after Berkovic and Hartson had combined cleverly to put him round the back of the United defence; an athletic block by Keane then denied Hartson's effort from five yards out; the striker was similarly thwarted by Gary Neville's interception. Later, Ferdinand's long ball put Sinclair in promising space; Berg thwarted him.

The clearest opening came to the hosts shortly before the interval. Hartson's audacious back-heel invited Frank Lampard to tee up a drive from distance. He struck it low, Schmeichel could only beat the ball clear and Berkovic skied the rebound high and wide, under pressure from Berg. Berg, busy and well organised, made an impressive deputy for the much-scrutinised Jaap Stam, who had been kept out by a lingering thigh strain.

At the back, West Ham coped ably with most of what United asked of them. Cole, roving deeper than his new forward partner, had had a low shot neatly collected by the West Ham goalkeeper, after Andy Impey uncharacteristically permitted him half a liberated yard. Yorke, meanwhile, stood on the fringes, Ruddock and Ferdinand giving him close and robust attention. In the muscular exchanges that characterised much of the football, he frequently lost out.

But to expect too much of the United debutant would be to misjudge his period of acclimatisation. Yorke had been a Manchester United player for a mere 46 hours when he kicked off here. Alex Ferguson signed Yorke for £12.6m from Aston Villa just in time for the Champions League deadline. There are bigger challenges ahead.

Yorke provided half a glimpse of why he carried such a high price as the second half opened, a neat little juggle shielding the ball from his marker deftly, albeit some 30 yards from the danger zone. Cole's performance had by now lent its own evidence in support of Ferguson's decision to strengthen his forward options. The two combined effectively once, on the hour, Cole floating a neat lob across the West Ham box, where Yorke, unguarded, brought it under control, only for Pearce to block his goalward drive.

United's most effective period came in the last quarter-hour. Teddy Sheringham had replaced Cole and Beckham found his way back into the script, with the second of two efforts that flew wildly off target. Last word: Beckham's late free kick, from wide on the left, which he delivered perfectly to the head of Sheringham. It dropped just over the crossbar.

West Ham United: Hislop, Ruddock, Sinclair, Hartson, Lomas, Ferdinand, Lazaridis, Lampard, Pearce, Impey, Berkovic (Abou 71).

Manchester United: Schmeichel, Brown (Neville 45), Stam, Berg, Irwin, Blomqvist, Beckham, Keane, Giggs, Cole, Yorke. Unused: Van Der Gouw, Johnsen, Scholes, Solskjaer.

Substitutes: West Ham United: Berkovic (Abou 71min).

Substitutes: Manchester United: G Neville (P Neville 51min), Cole (Sheringham 69min).

Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).

Attendance: 26,039.