If Europe was going to provide a narrative shift for St Patrick's Athletic, it didn't appear to happen in last week's UEFA Conference League first leg against FC Hegelmann.
Stephen Kenny's side had gone into the first qualifying round tie off the back of a lengthening dry spell.
Domestically, since the start of June, the Saints had only scored one goal in six games - a Simon Power consolation in a 3-1 defeat at Galway United.
The first leg against Lithuanian minnows Hegelmann looked like an opportunity to unblock the pipes and rack up a deluge of confidence-boosting goals.
And while the Inchicore side did go on to create a whole host of chances at Richmond Park last Thursday, it took until the 81st minute to break the deadlock. And that was from the penalty spot rather than from open play.
The fact that the aforementioned Power strike is the only open-play goal St Pat's have scored in 630 minutes of football is somewhat baffling given the creative talent at Kenny's disposal, whether it's Tottenham Hotspur-bound teenage sensation Mason Melia and the scorer of the first-leg penalty, Aidan Keena, up front, or the supporting cast of wingers and attack-minded midfielders like Jake Mulraney, Zach Elbouzedi, Brandon Kavanagh and Kian Leavy.
The positive for Pat's in this evening's second leg is that they incurred no bookings last week and kick off with an albeit narrow 1-0 lead to build on.
But how they approach the 5pm kick-off at the Raudondvario stadium will be intriguing, with the artificial pitch a factor that should prompt a compromise in the style of play, according to former St Pat's and Republic of Ireland winger Keith Treacy.
"I understand the second leg in Stephen Kenny's words is a small astro," he told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"Play the conditions. If the astro is not great, do not play out from the back. Don't force your style of play if it's not going to be conducive to you. So for me, don't make mistakes, Pat's should easily win that game."
Treacy also said that from the evidence of the first leg, only two of Hegelmann's players have the capacity to trouble St Pat's - the Cameroonian striker Abdel Kader Njoya and Brazilian winger Leo Ribeiro - with the first leg chances conceded by the Saints having been self-inflicted when caught out on the break.
"The only way that those two players can hurt you is in transition if Pat's lose the ball up high. Maybe a big, long raking pass or Ribeiro can eat up the ground with his pace. But they're playing a team that basically have two good players in it and they should be able to stand on their throat," he added.
"I wouldn't be looking forward to (the astro pitch) myself but you've had a look at (Hegelmann), they struggle to keep the ball in the middle of the pitch and they make some really strange decisions at times and they were lucky to get out of Pat's with just a 1-0.
"I'm sure Stephen Kenny will be saying, 'These aren't great'. Whatever he's saying in the media about them not being bad and moving forward, they've got a little bit of money thrown behind them, they got promoted four years ago, they're new to all this
"They've an average attendance of about 300, they've only got a stadium capacity of 1,500. So whatever version of this team Pat's get, it's not going to be hostile, it's not going to be brilliant.
"So I expect Pat's to come through it. I don't expect it to be easy, they will have to solve some problems on the fly because they don't know an awful lot about this team. There could be some surprises but to me (Hegelmann) have two half-decent players that you need to look after and the rest are bang average."
A clean sheet for Pat's would ensure progression to the second qualifying round and the League of Ireland have managed to string three of those together in a row, including last week's first leg.
But an open-play goal or two at the other end would go a long way to easing any nerves, although that would require bucking their own recent downturn on that front.
In former Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Richie Towell's view, it's vital that Pat's ease the burden on Melia given he is just 17.
"Mason's still a young boy so take the load off him and not have that pressure especially coming around in Europe," he said.
"Let's be realistic, Pat's will be hoping for some financial gain from Europe and to put that sort of weight on a 17-year-old's shoulders is really difficult."
That being said, Melia's manager was pleased with his output last week despite the foul-infused attentions of Hegelmann's centre-backs even if he wasn't able to find the back of the net.
"Mason shipped a bit of treatment but he kept coming back for more and he doesn't hide," Kenny said.
"He keeps his head high and even though he missed a couple of chances he’s coming back and getting in the box again. Then he ultimately got taken out for the penalty."
Whether it's Melia or Keena, or both, starting up front this evening, will be interesting to see. But getting back among the (open-play) goals will certainly be on the agenda and not just with an eye to being galvanised for upcoming domestic considerations.
The prize for getting to the next stage in the Conference League is not just financial but Pat's would fancy themselves to have a crack at the winner of the tie between Estonia's Nomme Kalju and Albanian side Partizani, who are currently locked at 1-1 on aggregate after last week's first leg in Tallinn.
If they could replicate last season's European run, which took them to the play-off round, it could be the shot in the arm that the Saints need to revitalise their flagging domestic campaign.
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