Sir Alex Ferguson saw Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo cut down Portsmouth with two stunning strikes and revealed his Manchester United side would still try to take Chelsea all the way in the Barclays Premiership title run-in.
Champions Chelsea suffered a shock 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough before United's 3-1 tea-time win at relegation-haunted Pompey and Ferguson said: 'Chelsea will have to collapse but we must still focus on our own performances and collect as much as we can.
'Who said we have given up? It hasn't changed. We want to play like we did in the first half here and see what what happens. In a league of this nature, with the competitiveness of it, you will drop points but you have to recover.
'We just have to hope Chelsea have a bad spell.'
Ronaldo's first, making it 2-0 after 37 minutes, was a real gem - an unstoppable 25-yard effort - and Ferguson said: 'It was a great first goal by Ronaldo, a magnificent hit.
'He scored two last week and he's capable of that. He has great feet and great shooting power. He should be scoring 15 to 20 goals a season.
'He's quick and brave and should get a few more, but he's had his problems.

Manchester United closed the gap on leaders Chelsea to 12 points with a 3-1 win at Portsmouth.
HenryBrowne/Empics
Ryan Giggs shoots against the bar.
United sealed the victory by racing into a three-goal first-half lead as Pompey failed to record a hat-trick of home Premiership wins against the visitors.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two fine goals after Ruud van Nistelrooy headed in the rebound from Ryan Giggs' shot to dismiss memories of previous 1-0 and 2-0 defeats at Fratton Park.
But Pompey showed that they will not go down without a fight with a belligerent effort in the second half and deservedly pulled back a goal three minutes from time when substitute Wayne Routledge's cross was headed in by Matt Taylor.
For 18 minutes, before United scored their first Premiership goal at Fratton Park and for brief moments afterwards, Pompey looked like they might have the ambition and drive to register their third consecutive home win over Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
But by half-time three stunning finishes had killed all that - and left Portsmouth's relegation fears even sharper in focus and United's title hopes just a tiny bit more realistic.

Battle of the Reds: FA Cup missery for Liverpool

Man United 3 Liverpoll 0
Fourth round, Jan 24, 1948
With Old Trafford still under reconstruction after suffering extensive war damage, the tie wass played at FGoodison Park where United, in the early years of Matt Busby's stewardship won 3-0 en route to a final victory over Balckpool at Wembley.

Liverpool 1 Man United 3

Fourth round, Jan 30, 1960

The only meeting of the sides during Liverpool's eight-year spell in the old Second Division between 1954 and 1962. United won comfortably against a Liverpool team in their first season under Bill Shankly, but were beaten by Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford in the following round.

Liverpool 1 Man United 2

Final, May 21, 1977

Four days ahead of their first European Cup final triumph against Borussia Monchengladbach, Liverpool, already champions of England, were denied a treble by second-half goals from Stuart Pearson and Jimmy Greenhoff either side of Jimmy Case's strike.

Man United 2 Liverpool 2

Semi-final, March 31, 1979

Man United 1 Liverpool 0

Replay, April 4, 1979

Greenhoff was again the architect of Liverpool's downfall, scoring the decisive goal in extra-time in the replay at Goodison Park after a pulsating draw four days earlier. United went on to lose a thrilling final 3-2 to Arsenal.