A bridge too far? The heart, effort and nervous energy which Aberdeen poured into the three-and-a-half hours of knife-edge game-time since last weekend was on a different planet to this pallid, limp offering.
It looked as if Dundee United had more men on the pitch, so easily did they find unfathomable freedom around the Dons’ defence.
If the absence of both sides’ celebrated keepers gave each cause to wonder whether they would find the route to goal smoother than had been the case earlier in the season, Aberdeen’s first encounter with Deniz Mehmet proved a deflating experience.
His fine double save to deny Matty Kennedy and Callum Hendry brought a portentous feel to a fixture which has now returned no Dons goals in four and, sure enough, within minutes they had conceded a lead they never looked like surmounting.
Not that Gary Woods himself could have been said to be in any way to blame. The desertion of Aberdeen’s left-back station in front of him was as complete as it was hard to understand.
That Jonny Hayes, with his engine, could have been marooned upfield after an attack which had stalled almost 30 seconds earlier was inexplicable; that nobody but Marc McNulty thought to occupy the space irredeemable.
It was to set the pattern of an afternoon where United’s players seemed able to do whatever they wished without resistance. So completely did they overwhelm their opponents that it was impossible to tell whether the error was in Aberdeen’s plan, or their execution of it.
The most obvious explanation is that the fresher team won. Aberdeen will hope it is the correct one, otherwise the repair job ahead is even bigger than imagined.