Burnley manager Scott Parker admitted there was "a lot of reflection" and "hurt" following Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers West Ham, during which he was subjected to chants of 'you're getting sacked in the morning' from sections of the Burnley support.
The 45-year-old may have been bracing himself for more of the same after Jorgen Strand Larsen had doubled his and Crystal Palace's lead 12 minutes before half-time on Tuesday night.
He most certainly won't have been expecting to take a 3-2 lead into half-time – not when Burnley had been so toothless up to that point.
But the Clarets smelled blood after Hannibal Mejbri's goal had reduced the arrears, capitalising on Palace's inertia to complete a phenomenal turnaround.
Burnley are only the fifth team – and first since 2009 – to trail by two or more goals in the first half of a Premier League game, but still go into the break ahead.
And only three times before had they scored three first-half goals in the top flight, last doing so against Brentford in October 2021.
Burnley's focus in the second half was all about containing Palace, and they appeared to be holding on comfortably until Ismaila Sarr sent a thumping volley towards the top corner with virtually the last kick of the game.
However, Martin Dubravka produced a stunning save to parry Sarr's shot out of harm's way and secure a precious three points.
After all the first-half chaos, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that kick-off at Selhurst Park was delayed by 10 minutes after the Burnley team bus had got caught up in traffic on the way to the ground.
The visitors' preparations may have been far from ideal, but the result certainly was.