Dundee United breathed a mighty sigh of relief thanks to this 2-0 win over bottom club Falkirk.
Manager Csaba Laszlo had gone into the match against the Bairns under enormous pressure.
He even had his predecessor at United, Ray McKinnon, plotting his downfall from the other dugout.
Thankfully for Laszlo and the club, however, his players came through for him as headers from first Pavol Safranko and Craig Curran secured what could turn out to be one of their most important results of the season.
The three points moved them up into third spot in the Championship and they now sit only two points off the top of the table.
The Tangerines made two changes to the line-up that started against Morton.
Into the team came Jamie Robson and Paul McMullan, with Adam Barton and Callum Booth on the bench.
There was no sign of influential midfielder Fraser Fyvie, with the decision taken to not risk him on the artificial pitch at such an early stage of his recovery from a serious knee injury.
The visitors made a bright start and pinned Falkirk back in their own half in the opening stages.
Christoph Rabitsch volleyed just past on 10 minutes as the Tannadice men continued to dictate the play.
They came close again to the opener on 34 minutes when McMullan’s low drive was just inches away from being turned into his own net by Falkirk’s Tom Dallison.
Much of their play was without punch but that changed on 59 minutes when they took the lead.
Fraser Aird, playing at right-back, was up the park and delivered a hanging cross from the right that was met by the head of Safranko.
You could argue that it should have been Bairns keeper Leonardo Fasan’s ball but the Slovak was more determined and hungrier than him and made it count.
They came within a whisker of a second goal on 65 minutes when a twisting and turning Yannick Loemba had his strike headed off the line by Scott Harrison.
With just four minutes to go, the visitors were two up.
It started with a freekick out left that Loemba battered against the wall then, after the ball came back to him, he floated in a lovely cross that was head back into the net by Curran.
The scenes at the end, when the players went across to applaud the sizeable away support, showed how much it meant.
Falkirk are no great shakes but this win should still do everyone at United the world of good.
