Alex McLeish likened it to a shoot-out between a water pistol and a machine gun, but on an afternoon when their heavy artillery frequently misfired, Manchester United came perilously close to shooting themselves in the foot.

This was a strange game, one in which United were utterly dominant for long periods as they peppered the Birmingham City goal with shots from all angles, but, with only an early goal from Carlos Tévez to show for their superiority, they let McLeish’s team back into the game in the closing stages. With greater conviction, Birmingham could have stolen an improbable point as they pushed forward in the final quarter of an hour.

Quite how United found themselves in such a position, clinging on quite desperately to a single-goal lead, only they will know. Sir Alex Ferguson, who watched from the directors’ box as he served the final match of his touchline ban, suggested that they needed more support from the 75,459 crowd, likening the atmosphere to that at a funeral. No doubt he will hope that the club’s supporters, somewhat chastened by a public rebuke, will raise their game as they seek once more to dispel the myth that they spend match days munching on prawn sandwiches and sipping on Chardonnay.

Ferguson suggested that United’s supporters had “come to be entertained”, ignoring a responsibility to help their team through a “difficult period” in the fixture list, but they ended the afternoon chewing on their fingernails. For that they might choose to blame Tévez and Cristiano Ronaldo, who failed to make the most of the numerous chances they created, but that would be rather unfair, given that the goal they combined to create in the 24th minute was a minor classic.

Ferguson called it “fantastic, absolutely superb”. Rio Ferdinand intercepted a through-ball and sent a pass towards Tévez, who had his back to goal. Tévez flicked the ball over his head and set off on a run, showing Liam Ridgewell a clean pair of heels.

The ball landed at the feet of Ronaldo, who took it onwards before sending it back to Tévez with an exquisite backheel. The Argentina forward was through on goal, Ridgewell trailing in his wake, and stroked the ball past Maik Taylor. It is unfortunate in one sense that the goal is more likely to be remembered for the quite bizarre celebration that followed as Tévez reached down his shorts to produce a baby’s dummy, which he stuck in his mouth – a tribute, apparently, to his daughter, Florencia.

Birmingham had played reasonably well to that point, with Cameron Jerome looking lively until his threat was snuffed out by the excellent Nemanja Vidic, but, having fallen behind, they seemed in danger of being overwhelmed in the middle third of the game. Tévez struck the woodwork twice, first with a header and then with a left-foot shot, while Ronaldo was unfortunate to see a header well saved by Taylor and a number of other efforts blocked. With Park Ji Sung lively on his return to the starting lineup after nine months out with a knee injury and Ronaldo desperate to atone for his penalty miss against West Ham United three days earlier, Birmingham were on the ropes.

Somewhere in the middle of the second half, though, United began to lose their way, with Michael Carrick one of several players to fall victim to a sudden malaise. Birmingham sensed that a point might be within their grasp, particularly after McLeish had introduced Daniel de Ridder and Mikael Forssell, both of whom made lively cameos from the bench. Forssell had two brief glimpses of goal in the closing stages, but each time he narrowly missed the target.

McLeish might have been guilty of exaggeration when he claimed that his team had created “as many opportunities as any team have against Manchester United for a long time”, but Birmingham’s new manager was entitled to draw some encouragement from his encounter with Ferguson, his mentor from their days at Aberdeen.

If anything, McLeish was the happier of the two managers, with Ferguson worried by the manner in which Tévez’s ankle swelled up after his substitution. The Argentina forward suffered the injury when challenged from behind by Ridgewell late in the first half and had to be carried to the dressing-room at the final whistle. At least in Wayne Rooney, again laid low by a stomach bug yesterday, Ferguson has the perfect replacement.

Manchester United (4-4-2): T Kuszczak – J O’Shea, R Ferdinand, N Vidic, P Evra (sub: W Brown, 84min) – Nani, M Carrick, Anderson, Park Ji Sung (sub: O Hargreaves, 75) – C Tévez (sub: L Saha, 71), C Ronaldo. Substitutes not used: T Heaton, G Piqué. Booked: Brown.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): M Taylor – S Kelly, R Jaidi, L Ridgewell, F Queudrue – G McSheffrey (sub: D de Ridder, 67), F Muamba, M Nafti (sub: W Palacios, 81), S Larsson – G O’Connor, C Jerome (sub: M Forssell, 67). Substitutes not used: C Doyle, S Parnaby. Booked: Ridgewell, Nafti, Palacios.

Referee: P Walton.