HE MOVES quietly through most matches, a drifter more than a hustler. The opponent who swaps shirts with him might not even have to wash the garment when he gets home. Like his approach to everything else he does on the pitch, Dimitar Berbatov measures each drop of perspiration before spending it. And of all the players in the game, he is the one you must judge by quality, not quantity.

Yesterday’s contribution was classical Berbatov. He had spent most of the game on the edge of the action but there were enough good touches and perceptive passes to remind us of his worth. And there were enough raised eyebrows and hand signals of irritation to remind his colleagues that he expected more of them. He is more general than foot soldier, and just as the game seemed certain to end scoreless, he turned up in the right place to deliver the 90th-minute winner.

The ball was played towards Carlos Tevez, the danger seemed minimal, but Andy O’Brien and Sebastien Puygrenier got into a tangle and the Argentinian got free. A quick pass would have put Berbatov through, but Tevez took the ball on, eventually saw his teammate and struck a good cross for the Bulgarian to stoop low and guide his header into the net.

United had had chances before this moment, but this was Berbatov’s first opportunity, and the game was decided. Two minutes later, the final whistle sounded and you understood why Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic went to the centre-forward and gave him the kind of hug you reserve for the hero.

There is more to United’s climb to the top of the table than important contributions from a talented striker. Goals win games, but it is great defence that makes the team invincible, and United have climbed above Chelsea and Liverpool on the back of their defenders. Do you remember Sami Nasri at the Emirates in November, the last player to score a Premier League goal against United? Yesterday’s was the team’s 10th consecutive clean sheet.

That equalled Chelsea’s record, and just now you wouldn’t bet on any team to score against United. At the Reebok they were without Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra, but the Irishmen, Jonny Evans and John O’Shea, were excellent replacements. Evans’s rise has been impressive and it was instructive to hear Sir Alex Ferguson speak of him after the game: “I was delighted to have Jonny Evans fit for the game because there was a doubt. The young boy is maturing quickly. He has been fantastic for us.”

The Northern Ireland international is tall, quick, brave, has good positional sense and is very composed for one with such limited experience. He hardly put a foot wrong yesterday and suffered little by comparison with the outstanding Vidic.

You have to say, too, that Bolton didn’t have the class to trouble United and they sorely missed Johan Elmander, their injured centre- forward. They gave a first start to Portuguese striker Ariza Makukula. Although he won a few headers early on, he didn’t do much else except get tired in the second half.

The game started tamely. Bolton’s poor recent run made them do everything cautiously and United weren’t in the mood to rush things. Then the strangest thing: midway through the half, a man left his seat in the stands and somehow insinuated himself into the game. He just trotted on to the field as a line of orange-coated stewards looked on menacingly. As he walked towards the centre circle, the intruder waved a red-and-white scarf over his head, indicating he might have been of a United persuasion. What prompted him was the mystery. Was he there to ask for more passion? Perhaps to complain about the lack of excitement? It was a strange minute or so. Play stopped and nobody moved. He was burly, and it may have been his size that induced such trepidation. “You tell him to get lost.” “After you,” the players and stewards seemed to be saying. Tevez’s quiet diplomacy didn’t work.

Then Neville, who has been known to rush in where angels fear to tread, went to The Burly One and suggested he leave. As the full-back ushered him away, you should have seen the belated bravery of the orange coats who swarmed on to the pitch and frogmarched the fan to the waiting police. So engaging was this little distraction that it was almost a comedown to return to the sedateness of the game.

Twenty-eight minutes slowly passed before Fabrice Muamba won a little tussle with Anderson and rocketed a left-foot shot that Edwin van der Sar finger-tipped around the post. The shot was a reminder that goals weren’t out of the question, and as the game edged towards the interval United finally shook themselves awake. Was it the prospect of their mid-match chat with Sir Alex that stirred them?

Berbatov and O’Shea linked neatly down the left. When the full-back’s cross was half-cleared, Neville gave Darren Fletcher the chance to cross from the right. It was a finely delivered ball and Cristiano Ronaldo’s firm header drew a good save from Jussi Jaaskelainen, who made further good saves in the second half. His excellence has been a constant theme of the Bolton story in the past few years.

United quickened the tempo a little in the second half. As Bolton’s limbs grew weary, more of the game was played out in their half and it was simply a question of whether United would get that one goal and claim their seventh 1-0 in this campaign. Lapses of concentration by Gretar Steinsson allowed Ronaldo to stampede twice down the left. Instead of going for goal, he sought to pick out a teammate but failed.

Then the game was into its last minute and Ferguson was trying to get Danny Welbeck on for Tevez when the ball came to the Argentinian and he got clear of the defence to make the winner for Berbatov. You could be sentimental and say Bolton deserved better, but on their own ground they had played for a nil-nil draw and apart from that Muamba shot, they didn’t trouble Van der Sar.And, for facing down The Burly One, Neville deserved to be on the side that won.

“Being top is not decisive at this stage, but it is always nice because it is the best place to be,” Ferguson said. “We have been playing catch-up in terms of fixtures for a while. We still have another game in hand against Fulham on February 17. Only after that will we have a good idea of where we stand between Liverpool, Chelsea and ourselves.”

Bolton manager Gary Megson berated his centre-halves, Gary Cahill, O’Brien and Puygrenier, for not dealing more decisively with Tevez in the build-up to Berbatov’s winner. “Our part in that goal was particularly poor,” he said. “I put three centre-halves in there at the end because we were out on our feet. It looked as though we would get something but it hasn’t happened.

“I don’t know if this result was ominous for the rest of the league but if anyone finishes above United, they will win it.”

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jaaskelainen 8, Steinsson 6, Cahill 7, O’Brien 6, Samuel 7, Davies 5, Gardner 6 (Puygrenier 83min), Muamba 7, Basham 7, Taylor 5, Makukula 5 (Obadeyi 64min)

MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar 6, Neville 6, Vidic 7, Evans 7, O’Shea 7, Fletcher 5 (Giggs 69min), Carrick 6, Anderson 7 (Scholes 69min), Ronaldo 6, Tevez 6, Berbatov 7