After the final whistle sounded at Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon - heralding the end of Manchester United's maiden title challenge - Marc Skinner and his players gathered together in a huddle.
The Reds had signed off what transpired to be a pretty memorable campaign with a narrow win over Liverpool. But while they had triumphed in that particular battle - over the club's greatest old foe no less - they had ultimately lost the war.
United have dropped just 10 points all season, losing two league games. The fact that both of those defeats came against Chelsea - who cruised to a fourth straight WSL title with a comprehensive victory over Reading - has ultimately proved to be their undoing.
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There is perhaps some sad, sardonic poetry about the location of the Reds' anticlimactic season finale. It was here on the opening day of the campaign that Chelsea had faltered.
Katie Stengel's late penalty had won the day for Liverpool and offered the first tantalising sliver of hope to the Blues' closest challengers that maybe, just maybe, Emma Hayes' relentless winning machine might be beginning to run out of steam.
But write Chelsea off at your peril. Sam Kerr and co have relished their role as title chasers, instead of pace setters, this term. They edged United in the FA Cup Final and now, less than a fortnight later, they have pipped them to the title.
However, if United's detractors had been anticipating slumped shoulders and glum faces from the Reds on Merseyside, they were left disappointed. The players stood together beside the centre circle - side by side, arm in arm - a tableau that perfectly encapsulated the unified aura Skinner and his staff have cultivated this season.
The game itself hadn't exactly been a thriller. The fact that one of the loudest cheeers of the day arrived when Mary Earps’ miscued clearance landed on the roof of the Johnny King stand and bobbled off into the backstreets of Birkhenhead is proof enough of that.
United went into the clash knowing the chances of Chelsea dropping points to the Royals were slim; last weekend's London derby against Europe-chasing Arsenal was realistically the last juncture at which the Blues would feasibly slip up. And when Kerr headed the Champions-elect in front inside just 18 minutes at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, the Liverpool fans took it upon themselves the relay the unhappy news to those on the pitch.
"1-0 to the Chelsea girls," they crowed as United ploughed on in search of a breakthrough. That breakthrough didn't come until the 72nd minute, when substitute Luia Garcia rifled the ball home just minutes after her introduction, notching her second goal in as many games.
It was not enough, however. United's tally of 56 points - the same tally that yielded a third consecutive title for Chelsea last term - could not seal the Reds' fairytale ending.
For Skinner's side, it’s been a campaign punctuated by moments. Moments that harvested a sense of quiet optimism, of tentative belief, that United could be on the precipice of greatness.
The composure of Garcia to slot the ball past Khiara Keating in last weekend’s Manchester derby. The stylish, swashbuckling victories over the likes of Brighton and West Ham. The towering late headers, from Alessia Russo and Millie Turner against Arsenal and Aston Villa respectively, that evoked the relentless, never-say-die spirit of Sir Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United teams of old.
But encapsulated in the two measly points which kept the Women’s Super League title agonisingly out of reach are other moments too. Wistful, weighty, ‘what-if?’ moments that ultimately proved to be United’s downfall.
What if Sam Kerr had failed to control Lauren James’ exquisite ball over the top in Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over the Reds at Kingsmeadow? What if Everton’s Courtney Brosnan had not turned in one of the most heroic goalkeeping displays of the season in February’s goalless stalemate at Leigh Sports Village? What if, against Manchester City at the Etihad, Laura Coombs had not been afforded the space to nod home an ill-deserved equaliser? What if?
This is not the end for this Manchester United side, though being pipped by Chelsea to two pieces of silverware in the space of just two short weeks has delivered the cruel terminus of a campaign that seemed to promise so much.
While the disappointment will rankle for some time, United have achieved their primary ambition this term. They have relished their role as disruptors of the status quo, ousting their city rivals from a place in the top three, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
Winning a seat at Europe’s top table will no doubt elevate United’s status on the world stage. Qualifying for the continent’s premier club competition will afford the Reds with greater allure to entice the best players in the women’s game to Greater Manchester and, from a commercial standpoint, bring lucrative opportunities for brand growth.
Attaining European football is a landmark moment for a club that, only five years ago, had no senior women’s team to speak of. It is an exciting first that follows the succession of other exciting firsts that have peppered this hell-raising, heartbreaking season.
A first title race. A first Wembley final. A first palpable sense that United might just be destined for the very top.
As the WSL season draws to a close, the relentless transfer rumour mill is just beginning to roar into life. It looks likely right-back Ona Batlle has played her final game for the club, with reports at home and abroad this week claiming the Spain international is set for a return to childhood club Barcelona.
Her departure is a big blow, there is no sugarcoating that. And it remains to be seen whether the talismanic Alessia Russo will pen a fresh deal at United or follow Batlle through the exit door this summer.
But that’s football. Players come and go and Marc Skinner’s next task - perhaps his biggest task of all since taking the reins at Leigh Sports Village - is ensuring the off-field decisions that are taken in the coming months will facilitate a similarly impressive campaign on the pitch next season.
"It's hard for me because I want to win the league and I want to win cups but I also have to appreciate how far we've come in such a short amount of time," Skinner reflected after the game.
"The experience we've had this year - the good, the bad and ugly. It will hurt that we're two points off and we've not won the league even though we've broken our own points tally record, but I think next year it will change again.
"Congratulations to Emma [Hayes] but this team is coming and hunting and [Chelsea] will have to stay on top of their game as well."
As the United players emerged from their huddle, they turned to their attentions to the fans, thousands of whom had made the trip along the M62 in the hopes of witnessing their team's improbable coronation.
"Glory glory Man united," they belted out defiantly from the Cowshed Stand, holding aloft signs and flags and banners, "as the reds go marching on on on!"
In spite of the slighly deflating circumstances, they rightly remained fiercely, emphatically proud of their team, who have brought them so many happy moments over the past eight months. There will be, without doubt, more days like this in the years to come.
There will be near-misses and slip-ups and commiserations. But there will be good times too, they can be sure of that.
Manchester United have finally arrived at Europe's top table. Now they must prove that they're here to stay.
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