KEY POINTS:
To not only create chances but to convert them - that was the moral of a distant story that could yet have a parallel in New Zealand sport, as four of our leading codes vie for world championship honours.
If anyone needed to be reminded of the value of taking one's opportunities, they only had to tune into yesterday morning's blockbusting English Premiership match at Anfield, where league leaders Manchester United burgled the points with a stoppage-time winner against Liverpool.
Down to 10-men after the 86th minute expulsion of Paul Scholes, comprehensively outplayed and possibly ready to settle for a 0-0 draw, United latched on to one of their only chances of the match to maintain their nine-point buffer on defending champions Chelsea.
This was your archetypal jail-break; the condemned team galloping away to safety courtesy of a John O'Shea ambush, just as the executioner had loosened his noose and the preacher was delivering the last rites.
And it was a near-perfect example of how all the dominance and possession in the world can add up to nothing if a team - in this case Liverpool - fail to capitalise on the abundance of opportunities they create.
Fired up in front of their loving Kop, Liverpool played with such intensity that United were on the back foot from the start, and could have been one, even two-nil up when they trudged to the break.
It was a match that had everything, including a halftime slanging-match between United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and Liverpool's Jamie Carragher, a disallowed Craig Bellamy goal and a series of near-misses from the hosts.
The clearest chance came late in the match for Liverpool substitute Peter Crouch, who killed a ball with his chest on the edge of the six-yard box, only to see his close-range shot saved brilliantly by Edwin van der Sar.
O'Shea's goal, the first at Anfield since October, not only left United on track to win their first title since 2003, but also added to their reputation of snatching late wins and prospering in adversity.
Only last week they beat Fulham after a last minute Cristiano Ronaldo winner, a few days earlier they won their Champions Trophy match against Lille thanks to Ryan Giggs' strike in the 83rd minute, and just before Christmas, Ronaldo sunk Manchester City in the 84th.
It is an ability to endure that has served the great English side impressively over the past 50 years in particular, and is something that our cricketers, netballers, rugby players and yachtsman need to embrace in the near future.
Few teams or individuals win meaningful championships without having to negotiate hardship and mishap, without temporarily losing their way, and without first having to stare failure square in the eye.
The Australian cricketers started so badly at the 1999 World Cup that they had to avoid defeat in their last seven games to win the title, in 1998 Arsenal came back from the 12 points down to pip United, and two years earlier Nick Faldo won the US Masters after trailing Greg Norman by six shots at the start of the final round.
In an ideal world, our four big hopes would perform so well this year that there'd be no need for last-gasp comebacks, but this is far from an ideal world and New Zealand teams seldom enjoy the luxury of winning easily.
More likely, most of them will need to show the toughness and indomitable spirit that marked United's win yesterday morning and - in all likelihood - should prove a major stepping stone to their 16th championship title.
As someone once said, chance is a fine thing.
But winning is much better.
High
Cameron Brown and Joanna Lawn, who each had to face their own devils while winning the men's and women's Ironman titles, respectively, at Taupo. Brown had been crook all week with dysentery and Lawn had to battle cramping in the final stages.
Low
The continuing spat between the Pakistan cricket board and the International Cricket Council over various issues, the latest involving Malcolm Speed's comments about nandrolone users Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Could someone please tell them all to just get on with it?
