BY OLIVER HOLT ( The Times )

IN THE midst of their increasingly gripping struggle to dominate the present, Manchester United got a worrying glimpse of the future at Elland Road yesterday when a vibrant Leeds United side, buzzing with youthful energy and precocious skills, took them to the limits of their endurance. It may be too late for David O'Leary's side to enter the championship contest, but they played with such verve and commitment that recent suggestions that their evolution is following a similar path to the one masterminded by Alex Ferguson gained considerably more credence.

In the process of dashing Mancunian hopes of returning to the top of the FA Carling Premiership, they also made a bold statement of intent. Ferguson has Arsenal and Chelsea to worry about this season, but this was a warning that next year, and in years to come, Leeds will be more concerned with emulating them than frustrating them.

Even if Manchester United were some way short of their best, even if the heroics of the past two weeks appeared to have taken their toll on David Beckham and Dwight Yorke in particular, a Leeds side that contained six players under the age of 21 did more to expose their fatigue than many others could have done.

They had one piece of good fortune, when Yorke missed a chance to win the match with what was, literally, the last kick of the game, blazing his shot high over the bar after a one-two with Teddy Sheringham - but they had proved by then that they deserved their luck.

In Harry Kewell, the young Australian, they had the game's outstanding player. Time and again, Kewell marauded through the middle of the Manchester United midfield, splitting them open with his dashing runs and his precise, incisive passing. Roy Keane and Nicky Butt were their usual combative selves, but even in this department, Leeds outdid them. David Batty and his apprentices, Lee Bowyer and Stephen McPhail, choked their opponents whenever they had possession.

In attack, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Alan Smith were a constant source of discomfort to David May, a late replacement for Jaap Stam, and Wes Brown. At the back, Jonathon Woodgate was a commanding, unflustered presence who will surely become a full England regular sooner rather than later.

Kewell had given the first hint of what was to come in the third minute, when he skipped past a lunge from Keane and crossed deep to the back post, where the unmarked Bowyer should have done better than to head on to the roof of the net. Leeds went close again in the eleventh minute, when May failed to clear Bowyer's cross and Smith thumped his shot into Schmeichel's chest.

Smith wasted an even better chance two minutes later after Kewell had caused havoc and slipped a pass out to the right of the area. Smith, usually a deadly finisher, dragged his shot wide.

Leeds's single moment of anxiety in the first half came when Beckham's corner squirted through to the far post, where May tried to prod it in. Martyn, flat on his back, kicked it away and then did so again when Cole stabbed it goalwards.

Kewell missed another chance when he glanced a header wide from a corner by Harte corner, but he made amends soon after that by creating the opportunity that put Leeds ahead. He picked the ball up just inside the Manchester United half after a careless pass from Butt had eluded Keane. When he reached the edge of the area, he threaded a pass through to Hasselbaink and the Dutch forward tricked Schmeichel into thinking that he was going to try to take the ball round him before squeezing his shot inside him and in off the post.

However, the visitors did not buckle. They dragged themselves back into the game at the start of the second half and equalised in the 55th minute, when Keane's cross was met by Butt. Martyn parried his header and Cole forced it over the line from close range, injuring Woodgate at the same time.

After that, the frenetic pace of the game slowed and the chances became fewer. Smith failed to make the most of a slip by Brown 13 minutes from the end, shooting straight at Schmeichel, but if Yorke had scored in injury time, defeat would have been hard for Leeds to swallow. O'Leary, who signed a new five-year contract worth an estimated £6 million yesterday morning, had no thoughts of gratitude or relief, merely determination to continue the pursuit of Manchester United next season.

"I have got a fantastic group of young lads here," O'Leary said. "They can cope with the big occasions, don't worry about that. They want to play on the big stage, believe me. United are our yardstick and in the years to come we will be chasing them and hounding them, home and away."

Ferguson's consolation, perhaps, is that Arsenal and Chelsea have still to negotiate Leeds in their own run-ins. King-makers this season, they may yet be the kings before long.

Leeds United (4-3-3): N Martyn - M Jones, J Woodgate (sub: D Wetherall, 59min), L Radebe, I Harte - L Bowyer, D Batty, S McPhail - H Kewell, A Smith, J F Hasselbaink (sub: C Wijnhard, 86).

Manchester United (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - G Neville, W Brown, D May, D Irwin (sub: P Neville, 72) - D Beckham (sub: P Scholes, 84), R Keane, N Butt, J Blomqvist (sub: E Sheringham, 77) - A Cole, D Yorke.

Referee: D Gallagher.