Sir Alex Ferguson restated his intention not to plan retirement any time soon. “I have another couple of years, a couple of songs left in me yet,” he said. The prospect of another replay will not have the old boy crooning, but how the FA Cup needed the music Manchester United and Middlesbrough made.

There have been too many dirgeful matches to make this year’s competition a classic, but this was a tie of glorious convulsions led by United and then Middlesbrough before arriving at a draw and a replay on March 19. The home team felt aggrieved at the decision by Rob Styles, the referee, which enabled Cristiano Ronaldo to make it 2-2 from the penalty spot but, as an outcome, parity was just.

Unfortunately the injury list gets bigger and bigger. I wonder what Sir Alex thinks of the Ruud van Nistelrooy move to Madrid last summer when he sees Nistelrooy scoring for fun? Strikers are now in short supply at Old Trafford and I have a horrible feeling that we`ll miss out on the treble simply because we don`t have enough firepower up front.