One of those poor souls who was held hostage in the Middle East for several years was asked upon his release, “How did you cope?” To which he replied: “After five years in a British public school, it really wasn’t all that bad.” This is the kind of stoic attitude I will need to adopt over the coming months. To be sure, there can be no crueller way to lose a championship than the manner fate cooked up for us on Sunday. Nonetheless, after a couple of decades of Liverpool dominance at the end of the last century, we should be able to survive this.

Certain members of my inner circle have an irrational fear of City winning the title. The planet has witnessed tough times of late, there has been a global recession, adverse weather conditions and the continued success of Simon Cowell to endure. Truly these are troubling times. Yet despite this, some of my pals think the rise of a blue moon is beyond the pale. It is simply not the case.

This was a rather apologetic performance from Manchester United and we got what we deserved from Eastlands. A championship team would have swashbuckled their way into East Manchester, rather than building ramparts around the goalmouth. Despite a bright start and a bright finish for United, City bossed large periods of this match and were worthy victors. They are in the driving seat now.

It is easy to oscillate between extremes. Depending on who you read, and when, the title will definitely be won by Manchester City/United [delete where appropriate] this season. Nevertheless, this was not a great time to drop points at home.

It seemed as though the forces of darkness were at work this weekend. Not only did Manchester City crush plucky Norwich, but both Liverpool and Chelsea progressed to the FA Cup Final - thereby ensuring that at least one of the truly evil clubs will finish the season with a trophy. At least, by winning convincingly late on Sunday afternoon, United gave us light at the end of the tunnel.

The Manchester United team that contained both Mark Hughes and Eric Cantona is, for me, the defining side of this club. It had a mix of grit and flair, youth and experience; it also had a fair mount of character. Mark Hughes, the player, remains one of my all time favourites and, despite his terrible alignment with Manchester City a few years ago, I am still a huge fan.

Springing like a child, Fergie leapt from the bench and performed that gleeful fist pump with which we are all so familiar. There will be protestations for some weeks yet, but that goal from Tony Valencia was momentous and the Scotsman’s eyes don’t lie. It has been a significant week.

In my younger and more vulnerable years a football coach gave me some simple but very effective advice. “Just hit it towards the goal Mark.” It was a philosophy that has carried me through my life of running across football pitches, and indeed watching games too. On many, many occasions, I have found myself watching a TV screen and shouting the words; “Just shoot!!” I could never be an Arsenal fan.

The title race has shifted in United’s favour by a significant degree but I take little pleasure in the weekend’s football this week. Wolves are a beleaguered side and their manager, Terry Connor, seems to be a decent man trying vainly to solve problems that are not of his own making. What’s more, the upsetting collapse of the Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba has brought the things that really matter into sharp focus.

Football is not a science. There are very few hard and fast rules against which we can make certain judgements. The rules we do have - offside, penalties, handballs - are contested every week by people who disagree. Given this climate it seems amazing there are so many people who are willing to make predictions and give judgements on the game. This week though, most of them did agree. Advantage Manchester United.