Heurelho Gomes left White Hart Lane a hero as his last-minute save denied Manchester United a vital win at Tottenham Hotspur.
And as United desperately searched for a winner to ensure they left for Club World Cup duty in happy mood, the Brazilian produced a fingertip save to turn away a Ryan Giggs free-kick that was going to creep in.
It left the Red Devils rueing their failure to take advantage of second-half superiority and opened the door for Chelsea to surge clear in the Barclays Premier League title race by beating West Ham United on Sunday.
Dimitar Berbatov will have been particularly disappointed at his failure to make an impact, which just gave the Spurs fans - so used to losing this fixture - more reason to cheer.
Sir Alex Ferguson predicted a hostile reception for the old Tottenham favourite and the Spurs fans obliged with a stream of boos and jeers that began when Berbatov emerged for the warm-up and continued throughout the match.
perfect opportunity
With Arsenal and Liverpool failing to win earlier on, United had been presented with a perfect opportunity to stamp their presence on the title picture before heading to Japan.
Yet the visitors' attempts to break the Tottenham defence did not get them very far, even though Ledley King's frail knee prevented him from taking part and Jonathan Woodgate lasted just 10 minutes after coming off worst in a tackle with Carlos Tevez.
Ji-Sung Park and Michael Carrick both had shots deflected wide but Gomes was relatively untroubled until Rio Ferdinand forced him into a save in first-half stoppage time.
Tottenham did not exactly lay siege to United's goal but at least they made Edwin van der Sar work to keep them out.
The veteran Dutchman has just been awarded a new one-year contract, with Ferguson adding a ringing endorsement of his enduring ability.
Van der Sar backed up the assessment with a couple of excellent saves.
The first denied David Bentley, who flicked the ball up perfectly for a volley that had Van der Sar scrambling to make a low left-handed save.
palmed away
Van der Sar's next effort was even better as he palmed away a shot from Aaron Lennon, who had been allowed to get too near the United penalty area, then reacted quickly enough to block Roman Pavlyuchenko's follow-up.
Luka Modric then launched himself at Didier Zokora's inswinging cross but his diving header was just off target.
With Pavlyuchenko getting in the way of a Tom Huddlestone piledriver, it was easy to see why the Spurs fans were disappointed their team were still being held at the break.
It took Berbatov just seven minutes of the second half to suggest he intended to be more of a threat, spinning superbly on halfway before embarking on a charge into the Spurs box that was only halted by Michael Dawson's despairing lunge.
Ronaldo - another peripheral figure - had the ball in the net from the corner. The Ballon D'Or winner claimed it should have stood but referee Mike Dean correctly ruled it out for handball.
It was the beginning of a long period of United pressure, although it took the introduction of Paul Scholes and Giggs to bring an air of real menace to their attacks.
Giggs supplied the cross from which Nemanja Vidic's header forced Gomes into his best save and the veteran Welshman was also responsible for the corner Ferdinand nodded over at the near post.
A goalmouth scramble that ended with Michael Carrick driving a low shot at Gomes also came from Giggs' set piece delivery.
Park tested Gomes with a rasping drive but Van der Sar would have been beaten if Modric's shot had curled just under that bar after flicking off Ferdinand rather than just over it.
Two Ronaldo free-kicks brought no reward, which was probably why he left Giggs to take the last one and give Gomes the chance to be a hero.
