Record-breaking United march on

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The 35-year-old captain struck the decisive blow in the 61st minute to put United two points clear of Liverpool at the summit with a game in hand on their rivals.

It was West Ham's first league defeat in seven games but they did little to trouble Edwin Van der Sar, who set two more goalkeeping records. The United goalkeeper has now gone 1,212 minutes since he was last beaten in the top flight.

But United looked equally unlikely to score either until Giggs stepped inside Carlton Cole, burst into the box and thrashed home a shot and edge United closer to the championship triumph that will see them match Liverpool's impressive tally.

The visitors made an encouraging start, with Giggs slicing an early volley wide and Paul Scholes launching a couple of trademark piledrivers, one of which Cristiano Ronaldo diverted goalwards, forcing Robert Green to make an impressive save.

As United continued to dominate the early exchanges it seemed inevitable that a goal would come, but instead, with Matt Upson outstanding and Scott Parker snapping into a series of tackles in midfield, the Hammers slowly got themselves a foothold in the contest.

Unfortunately, their finishing never quite matched their promising build-up play and van der Sar remained relatively untroubled.

Carlton Cole in particular wasted several half chances as he struggled to impress watching England boss Fabio Capello.

United broke the deadlock with 28 minutes remaining through Giggs' impressive strike and from then on the three points never looked in doubt for Sir Alex Ferguson`s men.

Ronaldo could have added a second only to see his thunderbolt deflected wide, while at the other end Lucas Neill failed to trouble van der Sar with a shot from distance.