On this day in 2009, Edwin van der Sar kept his 14th consecutive Premier League clean sheet, a milestone that still stands to this day.
Our miserly defence, which hadn’t been breached by a Premier League attacker since Samir Nasri scored in a 2-1 reverse at Arsenal in early November, had already shattered the previous United, English and British top-flight landmarks.
The run started with a 5-0 shellacking of Stoke City, but 1-0 was a far more common scoreline as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side aimed to lift the title for a third successive year.
Manchester City, Sunderland, Stoke (again) and Middlesbrough were all edged out before the turn of the year, with United also keeping Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur at bay during goalless draws.
Title rivals Chelsea were seen off, 3-0, at Old Trafford in January and Blues keeper Petr Cech’s mark of 10 straight clean sheets – set during the 2004/05 season – was now under significant threat.
After narrow wins over Wigan and Bolton helped us close the gap on pacesetters Liverpool, Cech’s total, comprising 1,025 minutes, was surpassed at West Brom as an injury-hit Reds just continued on our relentless way.
Steve Death’s 1,104-minute sequence for Reading was then overtaken as Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty settled a tight contest with Everton, before game no.13, at West Ham, saw Bobby Clark’s British milestone of 1,155 minutes beaten.
Argentine stopper Jose Maria Buljubasich’s total of 1,289 minutes was another domino to fall, following the Cottagers’ failure to register in M16.
Buljubasich, a journeyman keeper thought to have set the previous single-season world record while playing for Universidad Catolica in 2005, was passed as the former Ajax man pushed his streak towards an incredible 22 hours.
Eight different players started in the backline across the 14 games, with the likes of Wes Brown and Richard Eckersley also involved as substitutes.
Midfielders and forwards contribute in a defensive sense too, and our typically selfless no.1 was keen to share the recognition around.
“I’ve had records before at Ajax and with Holland, but it’s all about the team,”
Edwin told our matchday programme, United Review.
“It made me proud to break the record, but you can’t achieve that on your own.
“It’s the centre-halves doing their job, the right-back, the central midfielder tracking his runner, the forwards working to close defenders down… everyone plays their part.”
All good things must come to an end and, after van der Sar had missed a 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers which saw Roque Santa Cruz finally break the Reds resolve – Tomasz Kuszczak was the stand-in – his own streak finished at Newcastle United.
Peter Lovenkrands, 116 days and 1,311 on-pitch minutes after Nasri, was the man to finally score past Edwin, although we did eventually turn it around and take all three points back to Manchester.
Liverpool’s own resurgent form pushed us all the way and it would require a couple of folkloric interventions from 17-year-old Federico Macheda for a record-equalling 18th title to get over the line.
There’s no doubt though that, despite United’s diamond-encrusted attacking riches, this particular triumph was built on impermeable bedrock.
“At the beginning of the season everything was on Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov and Tevez but you need everything to win trophies,”
Edwin added.
“You don't need only your strikers. You need your defenders to be on top of their game.
“You need a midfield to work hard and track back and I suppose you need a goalkeeper who makes saves once in a while.”