It is exactly the position that the public sector faces today, having overshot its expenditure limit by about £20 million.
A third overshot the runway and crashed beyond it.
Not only were there cuts in the numbers in the armed forces, but targets were overshot.
It is a huge, demand-led programme that is often, if not always, overshot, difficult to forecast and almost impossible to control.
He overshot the groupings and found it extremely difficult to move his amendment.
What has gone wrong is that it has overshot, and there is now not enough liquidity in the market.
A youngster of about 16 overshot the lights.
And if by any chance it seemed that the mark was being overshot there are plenty of means available to reverse the process.
