With his ninth off 11 chances overall in the game, and in the 76th minute, Ronaldo finally broke brave Derby's resistence by scoring the only goal to keep United firmly in the hunt for back-to-back titles.
It was cruel on doomed Derby in one respect, but deserved by the Reds in another, stretching the Rams' winless streak in the Barclays Premier League to 24 matches.
It was unsurprisingly men against boys, yet somehow Derby headed into the interval on the back of the most incredulous scoreline of their wretched season as they had held United scoreless.
For the opening 20 minutes the rout everyone had expected was on the cards as United carved up the Rams at will, and it appeared only a matter of time before they would make the breakthrough.
Yet it never came, and as the half wore on, Derby steadily grew in confidence and towards the end of the period they even had the audacity to create two gilt-edged openings of their own.
As far as Sir Alex Ferguson was concerned, that was not in the script as a Derby side without a league win since mid-September should have been their for the taking.
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