1.   He wanted to give comfort, and protect her from the cruel blow life had dealt her.

2.   His death was a cruel blow.

3.   It is a cruel blow and one that again underlines the inconsistency of the red card law.

4.   Yet with their very first attack, the visitors struck a cruel blow.

5.   He later said it was a cruel blow that was imprinted indelibly on my mind.

6.   The fact Pears could be ruled out of the crunch game at Molineux is a cruel blow after his superb season.

7.   His enforced absence for the remainder of the season is a cruel blow to the Edinburgh side for they are one of four clubs sitting in the danger zone.

8.   But the poverty rate hardly dropped at all, suggesting that welfare reform was neither the cruel blow nor the helping hand for the poor predicted during the debate.

9.   For Tejada, it was a doubly cruel blow, as she struggled to care for her dying daughter.