Oh man, what a disappointment. My opinion, and my opinion alone, the scoreline just doesn't reflect the reality of the game. Of course, Patrick summed it up - the scoreline was all that really mattered.

Yesterday Patrick and I headed up to Manchester hoping to see us overturn the odds and maybe, just maybe, win at OT. It was a bloody early start. The alarm going off at 05:45 on a Sunday morning is not something I'm at all used to! As he's got a company car I met him up at our office near Heathrow and we bombed across the M25, up the M40, onto the M42 and up the M6. Very little traffic on the roads, the odd Spurs and (unsurprisingly) ManUre supporters on their way up to the game as well. A quick stop at Keele for a toastie and a coffee and then onward to Manchester. Well, Sale for us actually. We dropped the car off at the Manchester office and headed to a local boozer for a bite to eat and a pint.

Then onto the Metrolink - oh it brought back memories from my time in Manchester as a student! - and we were arriving at OT with over an hour to kick-off. The place still impresses. The stadium is bloody huge. Its been a good few years since I last went there. My last abortive effort when I got stuck on the M6 and arrived in Manchester with five minutes left to play! Surprisingly there appears to be a very relaxed police attitude towards people milling around with cans of Stella around the ground. The offie must be doing a roaring trade!

When we got into the ground we faced a climb of what seemed like ten flights or more of stairs. This stadium goes a long, long way up in the air! Peeking through to the pitch it was clear we were almost, but not quite, in the stratosphere. A couple more beers were ordered - Budweiser, of course, with this being ManUre. Five pound bloody sixty! Bloody hell! And not even on draft, and not even a full pint. More like two-thirds of a pint poured out of a bottle.

As we stood around watching the TV screens the team news came through, and, oh dear..... no King. A very significant reshuffle with Huddlestone partnering Dawson at the back, and (according to the TV screens) Tainio playing right back and O'Hara restored to the side in the middle.

United, on the other hand, looked strong. Difficult to pinpoint weaknesses. Brown maybe? Giggs lacking a bit of pace down the wing? But Tevez, Ronaldo and Rooney..... this really was going to take some doing! A lot was going to depend on how well we performed in the centre of midfield. Lose that battle to Carrick and Hargreaves and we could be overrun.

As we took our seats we realised we were actually sitting right next to the ManUre fans. Come on! Looking around though it was mostly older people and children. Not much chance for any banter there. The Spurs songs started and there was little, if any, response from ManUre as the teams came out.

We were set and ready for the off.

As the game got underway it was clear that O'Hara was actually playing left-back, Lee switched to the right and Tainio back in the middle with Jenas. Probably a better balance than the TV screens had suggested, and we were holding our own.

It was a strange kind of perspective to have, looking down on the pitch from behind the Spurs goal, from such a height. The pitched looked expansive. Loads of space to play into, loads of space to run into. I wonder just how big the OT pitch is? I'd hazard a guess that its probably one of the biggest in the Premier League.

Quick aside - a check on Google shows the OT pitch is 105mx68m (to comply with UEFA Five Star stadium requirements). White Hart Lane is (100mx67m). So actually, only a single metre in it as far as width goes. Obviously the perspective from sitting at a height occupied by a crane has an effect!

Anyway, back to the game. We were playing as well as ManUre. As has seemed customary against the better sides, they were having more possession, playing the better passing, but when we did have the ball we were much more incisive with it.

About fifteen minutes in we won a corner and Berbatov's header was cleared off the line by Rooney. Bloody short arse! How did he get his head to a Berbatov header? Of course, from where we were sat we didn't actually realise the ball was directed downward, but it was the first of a few chances we created.

We were playing particularly well down the right with Lennon receiving the ball and rather than cutting inside, going for the byline before crossing. That was how the goal came. Lennon had already had a couple of square balls of this variety cut out, but this time, a lovely pass down the right from Dawson saw Lennon drive for touch and square beautifully for Keano to give us the lead! By this stage Rooney had already hit the side netting, but who cares?

Yeeeeeesssssss! One-nil up at OT. Doesn't happen often and the Spurs fans went mad!

A really well worked goal. The ball across from Lennon was superb, bisecting Van der Sar and whoever was defending for United, to allow Keane to throw himself at it and hit the back of the net.

Hope and optimism levels went up, but of course, ManUre came at us straight away looking for an equaliser. The centre of midfield did well. Tainio was closing down and cutting out balls, and Jenas, though not quite as effective as Tainio at that aspect of the game, was contributing well. Malbranque was working hard although most of our attacking was coming from the opposite wing.

As the half wore on though we became more and more edgy as ManUre attacked. Two, three, maybe even four times as we broke up a United attack on the edge of our box, we opted to just lump it clear. Keane, Jenas and Lennon in particular were all guilty. With plenty of space to run into in the centre of midfield it really was inexcusable to just gift possession back to United.

Lennon's effort to clear in the same fashion from the edge of our box, when under no pressure, and without even looking up ultimately led to the ManUre equaliser. The clearance itself was a poor one and only went as far as the halfway line. As ManUre pumped it high back into the box, Dawson floundered, Lee was out of position, Giggs held the ball up, laid it off to Tevez, and he made no mistake, striking low and hard past Cerny.

It was a poor goal to give away. First off, Dawson should've let Lee deal with the ball into the box. He was in a far better covering position, set, and ready to head clear. Instead, Dawson, running backward failed to get enough on the header to do anything other than send it back up in the air in our box, and with Lee now unsighted and out of position, Giggs just had to hold the ball up and lay it off. Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhh! So frustrating.

Even then we could've gone in ahead. The game was open - as you'd expect against ManUre, and it was Jenas, making one of those strong runs into space from midfield that could've sent us in a goal to the good. A terrific ball found his run down the right. As he's done so often in recent weeks he beat the defenders for pace and angled a shot much like he had on Tuesday night to the far post. Van der Sar just got a touch to send it wide. It was a great effort, and a really good save to preserve United's parity.

So we went in a goal apiece. Would've probably taken that had you offered it to me before the game, but there was enough out there to suggest we could've been leading. Certainly enough out there to suggest we could get something out of this game.

In the second half we weren't as adventurous. United had more and more possession, but they still weren't really threatening. In fact, early in the second half we had another chance to take the lead with Lennon leaving his marker on his arse - literally - breaking into the box and attempting to chip Van der Sar. The ball landed on the roof of the net. A square ball to Berbatov (I think?) would have been the better option, but a good effort.

It could still have been with Jenas again breaking with a good run, found with a superb pass from Lennon (I think), this time on the left. As he squared up to shoot though he seemed to scuff it badly and it went harmlessly wide. The chances were there.

Sadly, Lennon's contribution declined as the minutes ticked away. While in the first half we'd had a real threat from the right wing, we couldn't recreate it after the break. Gunter was thrown on to replace Lee on the right. The right move I thought, for while Lee had been solid enough, with Lennon now lacking attacking intent we needed something down that side to keep us going.

Who'd have thought that soon after we'd be undone by another ball over the top? This time Van der Sar launched it deep into our box and Dawson, once again, was unable to deal with it, falling over and seeming to handle as Rooney got in behind him. Seen from where we were it looked a harsh red card. It looked as though Dawson was falling over and inadvertently handled. Of course, the perspective from our height was misleading. A text message from my sister confirmed it was a blatant hand ball, and under the circumstances, a red.

Without having really threatened us, ManUre now took the lead with Ronaldo scoring from the spot. No repeat of his miss at Upton Park earlier in the season.

Ten men, a goal down, away at OT. Not a recipe for success. We didn't give up though. With United now having what seemed like ages on the ball and acres of space we still kept going and threw on Boateng. Oh. Well, probably not a great deal to be expected from that substitution, but with Lennon fading from the game, maybe Boateng could at least hassle United in possession a bit.

Defoe too was thrown on with about ten minutes to go but saw too little of the ball to really do much with it. One chance that I thought he could've created from himself for a long range pop, but he opted to pass instead.

At two-one down our attacking from the wings now came from the left and very nearly led to an equaliser with minutes left. The United players seemed to stand still expecting some kind of decision to go in their favour, allowing Malbranque to break for the line and square the ball towards Berbatov. Bang! It hit the post..... So near. Of course, we thought it had been a Berbatov shot, but in reality Brown had turned it against his own post.

That was probably our last real chance of the game. United added another. A mistake by Cerny as Ronaldo got a shot away after beating Gunter to the ball. It deflected, and much like Craig Gordon's error for Robbie's ton at the Lane a week earlier, the ball squirmed under Cerny for three-one.

That was it. No coming back from there, although we still went forward. A valiant effort. Chances created to get at least a draw, if not a win, but two sloppy pieces of defending for Dawson to get done by balls over the top and a goalkeeping error for the third, by which time it probably didn't really matter anyway.

A disappointing scoreline from a match that promised so much for us. We held our own until that fateful penalty and playing with ten men, with Paul Scholes back in the United team for the last twenty minutes..... well, so near yet so far.

As we trudged away back towards the Metrolink we pondered on what had been a really good performance. Three of the four defenders playing out of position, yet the one who made the worst mistakes was the mainstay. I read this morning that a deal for Woodgate has been concluded, although there doesn't appear to be any official confirmation on the Spurs website yet. I'm in two minds about Woodgate, but I hope he can give us some much needed experience and solidity at the back. Maybe he and King can take turns in the physio's room?! O'Hara did really well against Ronaldo for most of the game, leading to it being a quiet performance from a player likely to win all sorts of awards this year, despite his two goals. O'Hara stayed on his feet, stuck to his task, and only really got beaten once early in the second half when he dipped in a bit too early.

In midfield, Tainio gave us good stability, breaking down United attacks, reading passes well and cutting them out. Jenas should've added to his goals tally with two glorious chances. Malbranque worked bloody hard, and although much of our best attacking came down the right, it was a Malbranque cross late on that saw us hit the post. Lennon had a terrific first half hour, causing all sorts of problems down the wing and playing a brilliant ball for Keano to give us the lead. His poor clearance led to the ManUre equaliser though - a situation where, with loads of space to run into, he opted to blast clear. An accusation that could equally be levelled at a couple of other players as well.

That still shows where there is room for significant improvement mentally. A goal up, under no intense pressure, ten or fifteen minutes to go, and we just lump it clear from the edge of our own box rather than run it into space. Let's hope Ramos can instil more confidence in how we defend leads against the best sides to cut that out.

Up front, while Berbatov didn't sparkle in the way we know he can it probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since Fergie had identified that they needed to nullify that threat. Keano did what he always does - ran and ran and ran, and found himself back in defence helping out. He scored and his goals tally just keeps going up.

It was a shame we couldn't get more out of the game. Most post match analysis seems to suggest we should've. We should've. I think even Fergie will contemplate much more how to tackle the game at the Lane on Saturday.

In the meantime there is no respite for us. On to Goodison on Wednesday and a result there will be a great way to put the defeat at OT behind us and start building up for some important games in the League, and especially so in the UEFA Cup and League Cup.

One very funny moment as we headed back to OT Metrolink..... a couple of United fans getting into their car and firing up the engine. First thing they do? Plug in the sat nav of course! Clearly regulars, clearly locals!