For the second time in three home league matches, Aberdeen were struggling to get the better of tricky visitors until the referee gave them a penalty and sent off one of their opponents.
Much more of this and the Pittodrie punters will start to get an idea of how it feels to support a team from Glasgow.
That is not to say there was any dubiety in the award.
As Jack Fitzwater pulled his head inside his jersey, having been left flailing like a tortoise on his back as Vicente Besuijen hared past, he knew the complexion of the race had gone irrecoverably off-script in that moment of over-ambition.
It is frighteningly common for coaches to take a notion that what they have seen at the highest level can be replicated with much meagrer resources, and the epidemic of teams attempting to play out from underneath their own crossbar is the latest example.
The eye test says that the number of goals sides of this standard will concede by faffing about in their own box is surely far higher than those they will ever construct from such deep foundations.
The consequences of Fitzwater’s aberration were stark, for had he been able to turn, there is no guarantee the match would have.
To that point, Aberdeen had been undeniably second best, to such extent that the eventual scoreline was not remotely within consideration.
So it remains difficult to assess this Dons side.
They have taken full and ruthless advantage when circumstances have fallen in their favour, but they have been no better than average when competing on equal terms.
Still, as a football fan, you take what you can while you can.
Because one day you’re celebrating pushing opponents off their step, the next you’re having an anything but beautiful Sunday.
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