There's 33 minutes on the clock at Tannadice and Derek McInnes has just made three subs.
What should've been a tight, tense evening at the wrong end of the cinch Premiership has swiftly descended into disaster for Kilmarnock and their manager has had enough.
For the hook are Jordan Jones, Blair Alston and Ryan Alebiosu, and while the latter change is enforced, it really could have been any of the 11 who'd just endured a quite astonishing half hour drubbing at the hands of a rampant Dundee United.
The survivors, if you can call them that, look on sheepishly as a shell shocked away support rain fury down upon them.
We're barely a third of the way through this meeting of the league's bottom two but there's no need to wait until the final whistle puts Kilmarnock out of their misery to declare a momentum shift at the foot of the table.
Goals from Kieran Freeman, Jamie McGrath have seen to that and there's no way back for the Ayshiremen.
Liam Fox's side, sickened at Celtic Park on Saturday when a precious point was snatched from their grasp by the champions, could have trudged out here with a sense of self pity but this was a defiant display - made 4-0 by Dylan Levitt after the interval - that hoists them from bottom place at their opponents' expense.
Ross County's win over Hibs on Tuesday night, their second on the trot, forced added pressure onto United and Killie but it was only ever the home team who looked like responding in the right manner.
Middleton being first to react to Freeman's high cross in the opening moments was a warning McInnes' players did not heed, and they were behind before long.
The stats will credit Ross Graham with an assist but there's no specialist term in the analytics handbook for how the defender simply leathered a 50/50 miles up-field for Freeman to chase in behind and punish a haphazard Killie defensive line.
United's second was again damningly simple from the visitors' perspective.
Steven Fletcher flicked a long ball onto McGrath's head to put Middleton through on goal, and the Irishman was there to slide home the rebound after his team-mate shot straight at Zach Hemming.
The keeper deserved more from his backline in that instance but should've done better himself when Middleton's 25-yard free-kick fizzed past him for number three.
It was impressively ruthless stuff from United on a night where they really couldn't afford to lose, and from there they ably managed proceedings out to a controlled conclusion, even finding time for Levitt to lash in a clinical fourth from the edge of the box.
The optics around McInnes' slew of subs are obvious but it was also a serious compliment of a United side who may just have found the spark they were lacking in a run of five without a win in all competitions.
Kilmarnock... well, they did win a few corners.
