Aberdeen may not have been in the pits of despair after their atrocious showing at the weekend, but they could see their smoke rising on the horizon.
Ninety minutes of dominance in Motherwell and the Dons were back within a game in hand of the notional European spots.
Though it will always take some time for the league table to settle down at the start of a season, the squash in the middle of the Premiership standings is unusually concentrated.
None of the sides between fourth and eleventh has been able to exert any particular authority over the others, resulting in a high number of draws and a mere four points spanning those seven teams.
That is much to the benefit of an Aberdeen side arithmetic now deems to be among the division’s better half, even if the evidence of the eye has not often identified them as such.
Two four-goal wins and a three at Ibrox have buttressed their points tally but are thunderous outliers in a league campaign containing no other victories.
If the worst of their form is behind them, then they have not left themselves any catching up to do. A big if, of course.
For each of those previous successes ought to have provided a foundation upon which to build, yet proved only fleeting aberrations of conviction.
Third time must be lucky, as there appears, on paper, to be no notable reason why this squad should not be a tougher adversary than it has generally posed through the autumn months.
This was an evening on which things could have taken a sharp turn for the worse for Barry Robson and his men.
Instead they found the smoothest road to carry them to Hampden: it carries on beyond to redemption, if they can read the map.