STOKE City's pre-match hopes always appeared to rest on nothing stronger than that old adage about football being a funny old game.
Well, as widely predicted, there were few laughs to be had for Stoke yesterday as they eventually subsided to a defeat the nation was anticipating.
The most pressing question would always concern their performance, however, and was it good enough to sustain hope of eventual escape from relegation?
Their defeat was comprehensive and pretty tame by the end, in truth, and United rarely had to exert themselves after scoring so early.
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But while the game was a contest at 1-0 for an hour, there was just about enough fight and resilience for us optimists to draw some comfort for the bigger battles ahead.
Not enough to challenge United yesterday, but maybe enough to challenge the likes of QPR, Norwich and Sunderland in those various D-days to come.
The home crowd was once again supportive beyond the call of duty after being buoyed at the start by the inclusion of Charlie Adam and towards the end by a rare glimpse of Michael Owen.
Adam's performance justified his recall and, fingers crossed, his influential enterprise and evident enthusiasm will yield a greater reward against lesser opposition over the next five weeks.
It certainly has to after a mixed bag of weekend results left Stoke slipping to within two places of the drop zone thanks to Sunderland's Tyneside heroics yesterday.
Their 3-0 victory had sent one shudder down the spine – and it wasn't long before another was travelling in the same direction.
For Stoke's afternoon could hardly have suffered a worst start after yet another clean sheet went west… after four minutes.
United's very first attack was rewarded with a right-wing corner that Stoke failed to defend in the air and then on the ground as Michael Carrick stabbed a snapshot inside a vacated far post.
It was a goal in slow motion, almost, and an all-too-familiar scenario confronting Stoke over the past few weeks as their defending was again bereft of all the aggression which was once its hallmark.
Wayne Rooney was having a field day in central midfield – Paul Scholes without the good looks as he frequently directed the play – and he was afforded far too much space to unleash a 25-yard effort that Asmir Begovic was happy to parry diving to his right.
The visitors, even in second gear, were winning corners almost at will, while their control in open play was in painful contrast to Stoke's more rushed and imprecise movement of the ball.
Stoke certainly didn't possess the kind of pace and penetration that almost teed up a second for Robin van Persie when Ryan Shawcross thrust out a foot to divert Antonio Valencia's slick cross from the Dutchman's cocked right boot.
Van Persie would fail with two further efforts as one shot went wide and another was fumbled at the near post by Begovic after Adam, then Robert Huth, gave the ball away upfield to invite a typical United break.
Sir Alex Feguson had little to concern him during the first period until the 42nd minute when both Shawcross and Adam escaped yellow cards in trying to thwart another United attack.
Stoke's goalscoring efforts were at a predictable minimum during the first 45 and for an uncomfortably long period it looked as though the best they had to offer was a meek early effort from Jon Walters.
Their best moment from a set-piece came when a right-wing free-kick was rolled short for Glenn Whelan to curl into the mix and for Huth to head firmly wide of the far post, but it was a rare example of concern for the visiting defence.
Indeed, it wasn't until a late period of pressure just before the break that Stoke, rather than visiting fans, could inspire the home crowd's loyal support.
There was even the brief prospect of a boys' own goal for Andy Wilkinson but, with blood seeping from beneath a bandage protecting an earlier head wound, his barnstorming little run into United's penalty area ended with a goalbound shot being blocked at close quarters.
A scrappy start to the second half suddenly gave way to openings at either end as two defenders leap to prevent Kenwyne Jones reaching an Adam cross, while United cantered immediately upfield to release van Persie for a thumping effort into the side-netting from a tight angle left of Begovic's goal.
The home crowd remained supportive, the visiting crowd annoyingly repetitive, as Walters failed to control a hooked effort from a Ryan Shotton nod down at the far post.
Stoke's competitiveness was a source of hope for home fans to cling to by the hour mark as Adam then took aim from distance to send David de Gea sinking to his right to save in front of an optimistic Boothen End.
United were even being forced into unforced errors as Michael Carrick inexplicably lost possession to leave Jones advancing forward before belting over with an ambitious effort amid few other options at his disposal.
Any semblance of a Stoke comeback was rudely interrupted in the 66th minute, however, when attack was spun into defence with devastating consequences for the home side.
Walters was harassing Jones by the right-hand corner of the United area, but how smoothly and swiftly the visitors played themselves out of trouble to launch another counter-attack.
But this one proved fatal for Stoke as Van Persie was played in left of goal and, when he cut inside on the diligent Wilkinson, the defender's trailing leg protruded far enough and long enough to catch the Dutchman.
Van Persie himself buried the resulting penalty low and searing into the keeper's bottom left-hand corner before celebrating a rare goal this year with manager and subs down by the touchline.
Stoke were forgivably stunned, their fans crumpled in their seats, before a promising move brought them back to life as Shotton slipped past a tackle and shot firmly at De Gea's safe grasp.
City, with Cameron Jerome now on to add pace to the cause, were faced with that horrible dilemma of whether to stick and take their defeat, or twist and risk further damage to their goal difference in pursuit of unlikely salvation.
Owen's introduction was one for the romantics with so little time remaining, you feared, as the game meandered towards its inevitable conclusion.
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