While results on the field and tribulations off it has seen Cardiff City engulfed in a troubling situation, there have been rare morsels of positivity to glean from the last few weeks.
Since returning from the international break, the Bluebirds have picked up a point apiece from games away at Stoke City and at home to Blackpool. In isolation, not the worst results in the world, however Cardiff will feel they have let at least two points escape their grasp.
We are now halfway through a season which has seen a brand-new playing squad, a different style of football, a managerial change and, most recently of course, a transfer embargo put in place.
Mark Hudson still seems to be scrambling to find his 'best XI', with the Bluebirds now staring at the second half of the season, for the second time running, plotting their escape route from a relegation scrap.
Well, if there is one positive City fans can take from the last two matches, it is the emergence of Kion Etete and, more specifically, his link-up with the equally-impressive Callum Robinson.
The lack of a potent strike force has been a major issue for Cardiff this term. Max Watters was given a clean run at the first eight games of the season and failed to find the back of the net, while Mark Harris proved to be a far better operator in the wide areas as opposed to through the middle as a striker.
But now, finally, at the mid-point of the campaign, Hudson appears to have found the strike partnership which will help to fire City up the table.
Robinson is a class act at this level. He is already proving his worth after a £1.5million move from West Brom in the summer, with nine goal involvements (four goals and five assists) in his last 12 games in a Cardiff shirt. But he needs help and someone to share the load.
The early-season performances of Etete, who is of Nigerian descent and believed to be on their Football Federation's radar, did little to convince that he would be the perfect foil for Robinson, but in his last three outings, the Peter Whittingham Memorial Match included, he has been Cardiff's best player across the board.
"I had a few cameos at the start of the season, just finding my feet and stuff. Then, the belief from the gaffer to start me has really pushed my confidence up to where it was before," Etete said of his start to life in the Welsh capital. "That's why I'm able to perform like that."
He offers something no one else in Cardiff's squad does. He is a physical presence, is good in the air, gets Cardiff up the pitch and is adept at bringing others into play. He now needs to build up a bank of goals.
Robinson's outside-of-the-boot assist for Etete's goal against Blackpool, his first competitive strike for City following his £500,000 move from Tottenham in the summer, was a stunner. But for Etete, who has spoken of the partnership he has struck with Robinson on the training ground, there was a sense of inevitability about it.
"[The assist] was exceptional," Etete said. "That's what he does. We do a lot of that sort of stuff in training. Me feeding him, him feeding me. It was bound to happen."
Robinson repaid the favour after Etete assisted him away at Stoke the previous week. There is a real bond and togetherness growing between them which has been one of the few big positives in recent times.
But while their partnership is getting stronger, the same cannot be said for the disconnected City fans at the minute, many of whom are growing tired and angry at the club's current plight after seeing Cardiff win just two of their last 10 matches, a run of form which sees them sit two points above the drop zone at Christmas.
Etete, 21, has pleaded with fans to get behind the team, just as his manager did after the stalemate with Blackpool at the weekend.
"The togetherness we need from everyone - staff, players, fans - needs to be more solidified," the striker said.
"We definitely have the ability to push on. We just need to put games to bed. We need that edge to win the game. We can't leave openings like that.
"[The mood in camp] is still positive, because of the way we play. But I can understand from the fans' point of view, when we are drawing, going back and recycling the ball. Everyone is not going to agree with what we are doing. But we are trying to win.
"We are trying to be positive. We know we have got the ability to beat teams. Against Blackpool, and in previous games, we are always on top. We need that edge and that bit of ruthlessness.
"I think we had enough chances to win it and put it to bed in the first half, especially, it's something we need to work on in the second half of the season.
"The football we play, at times, is really good. If we keep playing like the second half at Stoke, we have the ability in the dressing room. We just need to put a whole performance together rather than two separate halves."
For Etete himself, he will hope the goal against Blackpool, which was expertly taken as he lofted the ball over Daniel Grimshaw in the Seasiders' net, acts as a springboard to kick on in the second half of the campaign.
He needs the floodgates to burst open now, with a slew of goals to follow that one being the order of the day. He can't be the only one, either, as Mick McCarthy once said: "We need soldiers now."
'Ruthless' has become a buzzword used by Mark Hudson both before and after games recently, but in reality, what does that mean?
"It needs to be a competitiveness within the team," Etete tried to explain. "Competing for each other's spots. That's how we get that bloodthirst of getting in front of goal and taking your chances.
"I might only get one shot a game, but it's about taking that opportunity rather than thinking, 'Oh, I'll get another one'. You've still got to be positive if you do miss, that you'll have another one, but you need to think, 'I'll take this chance, it might be my last'."
Not a bad metaphor for Cardiff in general, actually. They got out of jail last year, thanks to an end-of-season surge away from the relegation spots, and are bidding to do the same this year. But they cannot simply keep praying for more chances.
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