Manchester United subdued the Orange Tigers of Kosice last night without really needing to resort to a whip and a kitchen chair. Goals from two defenders, Denis Irwin's first for more than a year and Henning Berg's first since joining United from Blackburn Rovers, and a third from close-range from Andy Cole two minutes from time brought them a comfortable victory which will have settled a few nerves for the stiffer tasks that lie ahead.

In their opening Champions League game a year earlier, United had found themselves up against Juventus in Turin and had been overawed by both the opposition and the surroundings. At least there was no danger of Alex Ferguson's players being awe-struck last night.

The neat but small Lokomotiva Stadium, to where the match had been switched, was hardly the Stadio Delle Alpi and the Slovakian champions were not exactly Juventus, who will be visiting Old Trafford in a fortnight's time. United's principal concern was that they did not know quite what to expect from a team new to this level of European competition.

Just in case, Ferguson adopted a similar pattern of approach to some of Manchester United's other away games in the Champions League. Karel Poborsky and Paul Scholes were tucked in behind Cole, giving United the chance to defend from the front and present Kosice with plenty of bodies in midfield when they tried to counter-attack.

In this situation, the flanks offered the Slovakian side the most likely avenues of approach, a point demonstrated in the eighth minute when Vladislav Zvara and Ivan Kozak combined to turn United on the right. From Kozak's pass, Jozef Kozlej produced a snap shot that Peter Schmeichel saw just in time. Kozlej had proved himself a threat in the air in the opening minute when a looping header sailed wide with Schmeichel caught out of position. Yet as Roy Keane, who will be even more crucial to United in this campaign, began to take command of the game between the penalty areas, Kosice had difficulty keeping possession long enough to open up the wings.

The danger remained, however. Just past the quarter hour, from Zvara's centre, Kozlej managed to squeeze in front of Gary Pallister as the ball drifted into the goalmouth. Fortunately for United, the Slovakian striker failed to make contact.

As Keane and David Beckham began to move forward more and stay in attack for a greater length of time, so a sense of unease began to become evidence among Kosice's defenders.

A minute before the half hour, they were undone by an opposing defender, Irwin, as United took the lead. Irwin's pass began a move which saw Scholes play the ball up to Cole, who had his back to the defence and struggled to turn for a shot.

Nevertheless, Cole kept his head and reserved his options, spotted Irwin stealing in on the left, and laid the ball into the path of the Irishman, who, from a narrow angle, scored between the legs of Ladislav Molnar, Kosice's 37year-old goalkeeper.

In the 61st minute, Beckham's swerving free-kick, while it eluded Cole in the goalmouth, eventually found its way to Henning Berg, whose shot at the far post left nothing to chance.

Cole atoned for his two botched chances earlier in the match by landing United's third goal two minutes from time when his crisp right-foot volley found the net after Miroslav Sovic miscued his attempted clearance.