Sentence:  They may have finished 11 points behind West Ham and lost both league games, conceding eight goals, but the Tangerine dream remains alive. Holloway said: “We won't get a bigger test than West Ham but we've got one chance. If you'd asked me last summer when I lost all those players I'd have said this was a <WSD>dead duck</WSD>, but we don't lie down at this club.” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A project that is doomed to failure from the start.