Manchester United 1 West Bromwich Albion 1

As West Bromwich Albion's second-half penalty hero Robert Earnshaw put it: "Special ground, special goal, special result!"

But the Baggies' battling point would not have have happened without a 'special' performance from their reserve goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak after he had replaced the injured Russell Hoult.

Apart from the obvious boost to morale, it does mean that Albion will be still fighting for Premiership survival on the last day of the season.

The Baggies entertain Portsmouth next Sunday, needing to win and for their three relegation rivals to slip up to stand any chance of avoiding relegation. And, despite boss Bryan Robson's perfectly fair observation that his side have the easiest fixture, that is a tall order.

Had Albion somehow won Saturday's one-sided contest at Old Trafford, it would have put their fate back into their own hands, but at least they are still in there fighting.

Two seasons ago, they were relegated by mid-April. So were Wolves last term and the Baggies would have been down on Saturday night, but for Danny Higginbotham's crucial last-minute intervention at Selhurst Park.

The Albion fans had suffered a nervous journey up the M6 listening to their car radios. And the mood had begun to deteriorate when they got into the ground to discover that both Norwich City and Crystal Palace were ahead.

But then came news of Southampton's injury-time equaliser at Selhurst Park. And it had an electric effect.

In their small corner of Old Trafford's West Stand, those 3,000 Baggies fans were transformed, jumping up and down for all their worth.

The Albion players, warming up on the pitch down below, witnessed it and it was like a goal start.

Suddenly, it put an entirely different perspective on the 90 minutes ahead of them.

No longer were Albion needing to win just to stay in the Premiership. Whatever the result at Old Trafford, this relegation battle would go the last day.

To a certain degree, that took a little pressure off Albion. As did the fact that the FA Cup finalists had clearly not put out their best team. Gary Neville, Gabriel Heinze, Roy Keane and the fit-again Ruud van Nistelrooy were notable absentees, while Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes were on the bench.

But the Baggies were soon given a rude awakening as to how tough the task would be.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson might still have a soft spot for his old skipper, but it was soon obvious that his current crop of players would be doing Robson's men no favours. So dominant were United at times that, between the pair of them, the Baggies' two keepers ran up a save count which was already approaching double figures by the break.

Hoult had made two decent saves before his groin finally gave way, sadly a moment too late as far as Albion were concerned when they fell behind. But that brought Kuszczak into the fray and he gave a performance so brilliant as to leave Baggies fans baffled as to why he has not made the step-up before.

Cristiano Ronaldo was United's sufferer in chief. But Kuszczak was not fussy about whose shots he stopped, particularly in one ten-minute blitz when the Baggies looked set to get overrun just before the break.

The only sadness was the one goal Albion did let in. The main disappointment was not having had the foresight to realise just how badly Hoult had injured himself in trying to reach a deflected Neil Clement header that was already going wide.

But, having taken the risk of keeping him on, Albion were made to pay in the cruellest, most hard-nosed professional of manners.

Hoult would probably have been little more than a spectator anyway as he lined up the wall for a free-kick on the edge of the box after Thomas Gaardsoe had been adjudged to have fouled Alan Smith.

But, when Ryan Giggs was given dispensation by referee Mark Halsey to take it quickly, it left Albion stuffed, and Hoult helpless.

This is a daft loophole in the game's laws that, having been interpreted in similar manner in the past by Thierry Henry, needs closing once and for all.

The only consolation for Albion was that their penalty equaliser, given for Geoff Horsfield's loss of balance after a minor tussle with John O'Shea, was of equally dubious means. Having gone down faster than Devon Loch, The Horse's punch of celebration to the Albion fans probably said it all.

However eyebrow-raising the penalty award might have been, Earnshaw still had the coolness to nervelessly allow Roy Carroll to commit himself first before tucking away his spot-kick. And Albion even had the cheek to claim another penalty when Kanu waited for Giggs' heel to tumble over.

By then, United had tried to salvage something by sticking on a star trio of substitutes in Rooney, Scholes and Louis Saha.

But Kuszczak had two more great saves up his sleeve to deny Rooney and when he was finally beaten by Scholes' bullet of a low rightfoot shot, it came back off the base of the post.

Albion, much improved after the break, did even have a chance to win it. But, when Earnshaw got the opportunity to go clear, an attack of cramp left him flat-footed and Rio Ferdinand reeled him back.

In any case, while it was one thing pinching a point from a battering like this, thieving all three would have been daylight robbery.

Scorers: Giggs (20) 1-0; Earnshaw (pen, 66) 1-1.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3): Carroll; Brown, Ferdinand, Sylvestre, O'Shea; Kleberson (Rooney, 67), P Neville (Scholes, 67), Fortune; Giggs, Smith (Saha, 67), Ronaldo. Subs: Howard (gk), Miller.

WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-5-1): Hoult (Kuszczak, 21); Albrechtsen, Gaardsoe, Clement, Robinson; Gera (Inamoto, 83), Horsfield (Kanu, 67), Wallwork, Greening, Campbell; Earnshaw. Subs: Scimeca, Moore.

Referee: M Halsey (Bolton). Booking: Manchester United - Smith (foul). Attendance: 67,827.

Albion man of the match: Tomasz Kuszczak - where (and why) has he been kept hiding all season?