BY MATT DICKINSON ( The Times )

MANCHESTER United's ability to win trophies is equalled only by their boundless talent to make life agonisingly difficult for themselves. In the seething bearpit of Anfield last night, they once again displayed the recklessness that both infuriates and delights in a match that threw the championship race wide open.

Two goals to the good and with little more than 20 minutes to play, Alex Ferguson must have expected his side to kill the game dead. Liverpool lacked nothing in spirit, though, and their reward came in a disputed penalty from Jamie Redknapp and the final scrambled equaliser from Paul Ince, of all people, with just two minutes to play. The cheers could be heard from Anfield to Highbury and back again.

Ince's wild celebrations at damaging his old club's hopes of securing the championship were a prelude to even more raucous jeers from the Liverpool supporters. If the FA Carling Premiership title cannot come to Merseyside, they will take almost as much delight in ensuring that it cannot be housed in Manchester, and this most dramatic of draws, combined with Arsenal's 3-1 victory away to Tottenham Hotspur, has ensured an enthralling finale to the season. The league remains the hardest part of United's hugely ambitious treble.

If they are to secure it, they will almost certainly have to shoulder the pressure of winning their game in hand - away to Blackburn Rovers next Wednesday - but Alex Ferguson, the manager, preferred to blame David Elleray, the referee, rather than his team for adding another twist to a championship tale of the unexpected. Ferguson did not stay in the press conference long enough to explain the precise cause of his anger, but it was fair to assume that he disputed both the penalty awarded against Jesper Blomqvist 21 minutes from time that prompted Liverpool's fightback and the dismissal of Denis Irwin shortly afterwards that aided the stirring recovery.

Irwin's second yellow card brought consequences far beyond last night because the Ireland international will now miss the FA Cup Final against Newcastle United through suspension. If it seemed harsh that he should receive his second caution for kicking the ball away, Elleray was only obeying the rules.

Given that he had officiated a highly combative game by cautioning only two other players, Scholes and Keane, he could hardly be justly accused of being over-zealous and referees should not be expected to adjudicate on humanitarian grounds. "It is tragic," Ferguson said, but while Irwin deserved sympathy, he could not argue with the two cautions.

It is another drain on United's resources which, impressive as they are, will be stretched and strained to unparalleled levels just as will the muscles of their players. They face three of the most arduous weeks imaginable, with three league games before the FA Cup and European Cup finals, and they ensured an even more gruelling journey last night when they succumbed to Liverpool. Arsenal will probably not allow them another slip.

What will make the result last night all the more galling is that they appeared to have the match sewn up. While Liverpool had enjoyed the superior possession in a first half of crunching tackles - Keane reminding Ince who is the real Guv'nor being the highlight - it was United whose chances carried more threat in a thrilling match that flowed from end to end.

Gérard Houllier had identified the flanks as his side's most vulnerable areas, correctly as it turned out, and attempted to cut the flow of chances supplied from the United wings by switching to a back five. The middle defensive three, his reasoning went, could stifle Yorke and Cole while Matteo and Song could apply themselves to man-marking roles on Beckham and Blomqvist respectively.

It worked almost perfectly for all of the 22 minutes that it took for United to seize the lead. The supplier, to no one's surprise, was Beckham, who had wriggled free for the first time in the match. A quick and clever free-kick routine with Keane gave the England international a half-yard start over McManaman on the right flank and, with Matteo on other duties in the penalty area, Beckham had the space to prove why his manager recently described him as the best crosser of a ball in Europe. His whipped centre landed on Yorke's head as if by remote control. It was a goal beautiful in its simplicity.

If there was brilliance in the execution, it must also have been infuriating for Liverpool who, in falling behind, had given United the luxury of patience. Instead of being forced to overcommit themselves forward, United could soak up some heavy pressure from Liverpool and allow their opponents to dominate possession, as long as it was in front of them.

The visitors relied mostly on counterattacks, but with Beckham hitting crosses with such unerring precision, it was all that they seemed to need as they went two goals ahead shortly after half-time.

Temperatures were raised, and feet with them, in the 54th minute when the game seemed to be won for United. Once again, Beckham was at the heart of the move as he chipped the ball forward for Blomqvist to run on to in the Liverpool penalty area. Defenders rushed across to block him but, in attempting to hoof the ball clear, Carragher only succeeded in kicking the Swede in the chest.

As Elleray pointed to the penalty spot and Blomqvist lay winded on the floor, most of the other 21 players became involved in some fairly tame push-and-shove. During the mêlée, for which Schmeichel ran forward to act as peacemaker, Keane's shirt was ripped and Ince's temper boiled over. Irwin, though, could be relied upon to maintain perspective and he nonchalantly struck the ball past Friedel from the spot.

Liverpool had fought back from a two-goal deficit against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday and they proved equally resilient last night. With Stam having the better of Riedle, though, it was not obvious from where a goal might come until the 69th minute when Elleray once again found cause to award a penalty, this time when Blomqvist was adjuged to have held back Leonhardsen. It was a harsh decision, but the United players showed little dissent before Redknapp stepped forward to sidefoot the ball past Schmeichel.

For the period that followed, the Noise Abatement Society must have been tempted to put in a complaint as Anfield's exhortations reached deafening levels. Liverpool, seeking some joy from a desolate season, were desperate to spoil United's search for the treble and they could not have scripted it better than that Ince, once derided as a "Big-Time Charlie" by Ferguson and offloaded to Internazionale while at his peak, should scramble in the equaliser just two minutes from the end after Riedle had been blocked. "I don't care who wins the championship," Houllier said, but he must be the only one who does not.

Liverpool: B Friedel - J Carragher, S Staunton (sub: D Thompson, 78min), P Babb - R Song (sub: P Berger, 56), J Redknapp, P Ince, D Matteo - O Leonhardsen, S McManaman - K Riedle.

Man Utd: P Schmeichel - G Neville, J Stam, R Johnsen, D Irwin - D Beckham, R Keane, P Scholes, J Blomqvist (sub: P Neville, 76) - A Cole (sub: N Butt, 77), D Yorke.

Referee:D Elleray.