Cove Rangers and Blair Yule have come through a quarter of games where they have taken their fair share of sucker-punches.
Late goals have hurt them in dramatic circumstances and had results gone their way, Cove could be sitting prettier than eighth in the Championship.
The Hamilton Accies game is the one that stands out the most. Having led 4-1 at New Douglas Park, Cove allowed the hosts back in the game and conceded a leveller in stoppage-time.
They fought back to level against title-chasing Morton at home, only to lose 2-1, and last time out goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon bagged Partick Thistle a point in the 95th minute.
That lends itself to what-might-have-beens and hard-luck stories, which Yule admits has been a challenge to overcome.
“Mentally it’s been pretty difficult to come through that,” he said. “We’ve put a lot of work in to get ourselves in pretty good positions.
“If you take those three games – the Hamilton game we probably should have seen out to get three points, Morton we could have got a draw and three points against Partick would have put us in a really good position in the table.
“Although we’re not getting the results, we’re still getting ourselves in really good positions. Outwith the Morton game, we’re still managing to at least take something out of them, which I suppose the positive spin you could put on it.”
With a weekend off, Cove have had longer to wait to put things right and will have to do so against one of the league’s form sides in Dundee.
“They’re on a great run of form,” added Yule. “It would have been a tough ask anyway but them hitting a good period is going to make it more difficult for us.
“We’ll go and do our own thing and be quietly confident. The game up here was a good night – we just need Scully to bang in a couple more overhead kicks I suppose.”
Happy to commit future to Cove
Bar one season at Arbroath, Yule has been at Cove since 2010, one of the regulars in helping the Aberdeen side climb through the leagues.
Following on the tail of Connor Scully, another club stalwart who recently signed a new deal, Yule is also in talks about extending his stay at Cove.
“I’m in discussions at the minute,” said Yule. “I would think by the turn of the year, there’ll be something sorted. I’m looking forward to getting that resolved.
“It’s just nice to get those kind of things put to the back for a while and focus on your own football. It’s a worry you don’t have to consider, for as long as your contract is.
“I think I’m doing alright at the minute. I feel like there’s always room for improvement; I’m quite hard on myself and want to keep doing better and better.”
Yule, son of Cove legend Raymond, maybe a harsh critic of himself but he tries not to let disappointment linger.
With Cove being part-time, the hours they do get to spend together during the week become all the more important.
“In the changing room and on the bus back from away games, I would probably have a bit more of a think about games,” he said.
“But once it’s passed, there’s not too much you can do. You can get up to training and maybe think about things you did and didn’t do well, but for the most part you don’t dwell on things for too long.
“Sometimes the manager has looked back at games and shown us video footage, of things we’ve done well and could do better, which is good for all the players.
“But at a full-time level that’s more of a regular occurrence – maybe the day after the game they’d come in and reflect about it.
“The amount of time we have, as players, is limited. Maybe we would want to spend longer looking back at things and picking out good things to continue doing.
“But when you’ve only got a couple of sessions a week, being on the pitch is the most important thing.”