Swansea City have played better in a number of recent games than they did against Bristol City on Saturday.
But for the ninth time in 15 Championship fixtures since the beginning of December, Vitor Matos' team did enough to deliver victory.
There have been five defeats during that period, all of which have been away from home - at Stoke City, Coventry City, Millwall, Hull City and Derby County.
Swansea came away from four of those losses believing they may have deserved more than they got.
Millwall was the exception given that Lawrence Vigouroux produced a spectacular goalkeeping display just to keep his side in the contest and yet even at The Den, Swansea were only beaten by a 90th-minute Caleb Taylor winner.
This weekend's 1-0 win over Bristol City, meanwhile, was one which could be considered a little fortunate given that the Robins carried more attacking threat than their hosts for long spells.
The woodwork rattled on a couple of occasions and Vigouroux – who must be amongst the most consistent goalkeepers in the Championship – made a couple of smart saves as Zan Vipotnik's 18th goal of the season proved decisive.
As a result, the gap to the play-off places narrowed briefly to three points, though it was back up to six by the end of the day thanks to Wrexham's victory over Ipswich Town.
And so to Preston North End on Tuesday, when Snoop Dogg and a capacity crowd will watch on as Swansea try to make it 25 points taken from nine home games.
With so many teams above in the congested play-off race, a top-six finish still looks like something of a long shot as things stand.
But whatever is to come over the next couple of months, the mood of the club has shifted under Matos.
Swansea were only outside the relegation places after slumping to a fifth straight league defeat – despite taking a two-goal lead - at West Brom in late November.
That painful day seems a long time ago now.