Joey Barton's very obvious mission of trying to create and foster a sense of positivity at Bristol Rovers, and not just on the field, has come at a slight price and it was very much evident against Barrow on Tuesday night.
Whereas the Mem has previously been ridden with gallows' humour amid the troubles of the last two years, the sign of an opposition team going down to 10 men so early in the game would have been met with sarcastic cries along the lines of the Gas being almost certain to lose.
But something felt different this week, as that numerical advantage didn't lead to any cynicism or self-loathing, it only heightened expectation and demand for victory. It's very easy to get swept up in it all, and he still retains his detractors among some supporters in blue and white, but he has generated a tangible sense of self-belief and confidence, not just in his players but throughout the terraces.
True, there were mild grumbles of frustrations as Leon Clarke toed a near-post chance over the bar or as cross after cross was headed away by a stoic Barrow backline, but the supporters - in the unpleasant trifecta of late wintry rain, wind and cold - stayed with the team, not out of blind loyalty but because of the new found sense something was going to happen.
And something very much did happen as Antony Evans shifted a sideways pass into his stride and then left fly from 25 yards for a goal that Barton reflected was "worth the admission fee alone". Suddenly the damp and the declining temperatures very much felt worth it.
Gasheads have faith in this team and it's being reciprocated, but also as the top seven draws ever nearer with each sign of progress up the table, new emotional-driven beliefs and concepts starts to seep into the collective consciousness - pressure and expectation.
Barton has likened the run-in to the Grand National with 13 fences remaining but unlike that particular race, Rovers can probably afford a stumble or two. However, so much intense focus is being placed on each match, to the point new adjectives are going to be found for the phrase, "big game".
It shouldn't be forgotten, of course, that Barton is largely working with a young squad. Eight of the 15 players used on Tuesday were 24 and under, admittedly offset by the considerable veteran presences of Glenn Whelan and Leon Clarke (and how important will those figures be down the final stretch), but overcoming the mental challenges of meeting the very clear and obvious targets will be vitally important.
For Barton, it shouldn't be seen as a burden or something to particularly overplay, more a pleasure. Because ultimately you play the game for those moments of excitement; the butterflies in the tummy that date back to the first schoolboy cup final and drive professionals to constantly try and be better.
"Pressure, for me, is a privilege," said Barton, reading almost as a mission statement. "There is nothing worse than when your season is over. We felt that drifting into League Two obscurity last season. That was so painful to take.
"It’s so much better coming and having the butterflies and expectation and the nerves because it really means you’ve got something to play for. I hope we get more nervous and more anxious because it means the stakes are getting higher. If we want to be a proper football club, we’ve got to meet that expectation.
"More nights like this, the fans start getting used to it and they start going, ‘we know what this is about’ and hopefully by the end of my tenure here, we get that expectation of we’re Bristol Rovers and we win games of football and we’re successful."
That idea of changing the whole mentality of the club is something the manager wants to achieve; bringing a sense of bravado, almost arrogance. Which does run contrary to some of the core principles that have guided the "family club" that is Rovers.
Of course, Rovers have had successful runs before and have been the big fish in the smaller ponds of the National League and League Two under Darrell Clarke. But the surge to the top of League One under Graham Coughlan felt almost unexpected and with a continual lack of connection between the terrace and manager. And since then it's been perpetual decline, including on Barton's watch.
But the seven wins Rovers have accrued in just over two months is a considerable leap in good vibrations from the 13 across the whole of 2021 and the 11 in 2020. Three points is no longer a nice surprise.
"I’ll level with you, we’ve got to educate the fanbase," Barton added. "They were not in for COVID and then they came in when it was on a death spiral and they turned up and took their frustration out early in the season and we were poor.
"We weren’t good enough and we spoke about it, we’ve got to make them scream and shout and cheer and keep feeding them because if I was turning up and someone was playing abject football, I wouldn’t be jumping for joy in the stands. It’s a two-way street and we’ve got to work hard to keep feeding them.
"They’d got used to getting beat and that’s not their fault, that’s the football club’s fault. We have to get them used to winning games, coming here to win games and being disappointed.
"We were disappointed we never beat Exeter on Saturday. They were 4-0 and 5-0 up on us in 45 minutes twice when we’ve been down there and that’s a sign of the team’s progress.
"We were gutted leaving the stadium, I’m gutted leaving for London after the game [Barton attended the Carabao Cup final on Sunday]. They’ve missed a chance late doors – Belly says he had it covered, by the way, and I wouldn’t doubt him – but we could have lost the game. A big point and that looks an even bigger point after the three points tonight."
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