Wayne Rooney took his goal glut to 32 with another fine double to take Manchester United back to the Premier League summit after a 3-0 win over Fulham.
Although it wasted a huge number of chances, with Dimitar Berbatov the prime culprit, United did enough to re-establish its dominant position with eight games of the campaign remaining.
Rooney provided a suitably quick-fire response after a goalless first half and after he converted Berbatov's cross seven minutes from time to leave him just 10 adrift of Cristiano Ronaldo's massive total of two years ago, Berbatov ended a frustrating afternoon by finally getting his name on the scoresheet.
It has come to that stage in the season where every round of fixtures bring their own pressure.
And, on the occasion chosen to mark Old Trafford's 100th birthday, it was United needing to follow Chelsea and Arsenal, who after initial struggles, had ended up with three points yesterday.
On the face of it, a Fulham side in the middle of a titanic Europa League tie with Juventus would appear to be the perfect opponents.
Yet, as Ferguson pointed out in the build-up, Roy Hodgson has revolutionised life at Craven Cottage and masterminded a three-goal victory over these same opponents in December.
At the time, United was severely weakened by a loss of defenders.
With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic back those problems are now at an end. On this occasion, it was United's attack that misfired.
The hosts had plenty of possession and got into the right areas often enough.
But at some stage, all their first half attacks broke down.
Only twice could the Fulham defence take complete credit.
A collective effort ensured Rooney did not profit when Darren Fletcher elected to square the ball after charging into the box to reach Berbatov's return pass.
Mark Schwarzer denied Rooney later in the half with a fabulous one-handed save after the England man had curled a shot goalwards from 20 yards.
Restored to the starting line-up after missing the midweek demolition of AC Milan, Berbatov had no-one to blame but himself for failing to convert his best chances, both of which were headers.
True, that part of the game is not the Bulgarian's strong point but, after finding space deep inside the Fulham box, he should have done better after being picked out by Antonio Valencia and Nani respectively.
Rooney was grumbling at half-time after being hauled down by Stephen Kelly without winning a penalty. He was all smiles 29 seconds after the restart though.
A scrappy build-up saw Berbatov nod the ball into his strike partner's path. Rooney then fed Nani before advancing into the big hole Fulham's disorientated defence had left.
Once Nani delivered the return pass back into exactly the same area, the outcome was inevitable.
With the home side in front, so was the result.
Anxiety remained though as long as the wait for a second continued.
Rooney and Berbatov both failed to profit from decent half chances, in the latter man's case an acrobatic volley from Valencia's cross that flew narrowly wide.
At least they could claim to have got somewhere near the goal, unlike Patrice Evra, who screwed his 25-yard shot so wide it resulted in a Fulham throw.
The value of having Ferdinand and Vidic back in harness was seen as the clock ticked down.
Starved of possession and chances, Bobby Zamora had been given little opportunity to press home