Try as Liverpool might, the reality was that United should have buried the contest long before the end.
The Tottenham Hotspur debutant was granted the last quarter of the contest, just as the first Mexican waves were whipping round the stadium, but even with the contest long since settled his impact was remarkable.
Nevada, chosen by the Democratic Party to hold an early contest long before numerous other states decided to move their primaries to Feb. 5, has been largely overshadowed by Iowa, New Hampshire and, to a lesser degree, South Carolina.
These days when his serve falters, as it did last night, he appears like a sitting duck, for he lacks the stamina to contest long points with young guns like Hewitt.
They were the side with the puncher's chance, who stayed in the contest long enough to catch their young and vibrant opponents.
France were supposedly a team in pieces, beaten by Tonga just a week ago and with coach Marc Lievremont publicly berating his players, but so clear-cut was their victory that much of the atmosphere had been sucked from the contest long before the end.
It might have been more amusing if the GOP presidential primary weren't a case study of a contest long on money and short on participation.
What's coming up... Tomorrow Jessica Ennis contests the long jump and 60m hurdles in the McCain City Challenge at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Individual contests have long been unpopular and are rarely staged, but in a sense they are the purest form of the game.
For the next two years, contests between long-distance runners sold out halls in New York, London, Berlin, and Montreal.
