That was the turning point.
We could sense it and they could sense it before the game had even finished. Scholes getting red carded, he knew, that was a lash-out at what he sensed; them barely having a shot on goal for ages and their fans leaving in droves from about 85minutes, they all knew as well...
Then when the final whistle blew we erupted, the Rags left en mass, Balotelli winked at Ferdinand and there was a feeling in the stands we hadn't felt for a long time, if ever depending on your age. Probably nobody there was around when they were nothing and we were everything in this city back in the 1930s but many were there to see 3-3 draws that saw both teams cheered off because we were their equals, or big away wins where we were simply superior to them. In between the 5-1 4-1 3-1s and Benjani pointing gave us joy, but this was different.
I had a tear in my eye. It was only a 1-0 semi-final win on paper. At that point we still hadn't won anything for 35 years. But in the grander scheme it was the day Manchester football changed.
All the way home they hid like rats at the service stations. They barely looked up at us as we drove past them on the motorway. There was no goading or piss taking from them. They knew it, we knew it. It had all changed!