Dundee United’s failure, to date at least, to make the most of their chances to claim second spot in the Championship could leave them with a mountain to climb.
And in the short history of the play-offs, it’s one no one else has conquered.
Since the end-of-season shoot-outs were introduced, no second tier outfit has successfully negotiated three ties to clinch promotion.
In 2014, Hamilton, the only side to win promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs, did so by beating Falkirk at the semi-final stage before a remarkable second-leg comeback at Hibs saw them win on penalties.
A year later, Rangers got past Queen of the South and then Hibs but ran out of steam when faced with Premiership Motherwell, going down by a thumping 6-1 on aggregate.
And while 2016 saw Hibs beat Raith Rovers in the third-v-fourth tie, next time out they went down to Falkirk, who, in turn, were demolished by top-flight Kilmarnock in the final.
So, unless they can leapfrog Falkirk into second in this weekend’s final round of scheduled league fixtures, the task that lies ahead will be daunting.
It makes the failure to capitalise on the Bairns’ blunders three times in the last five games all the more galling.
Early last month they led old boss Peter Houston’s men until the closing minutes before paying the price for squandering a string of scoring opportunities by conceding a demoralising equaliser.
Two games later, they went into the tea-time kick-off at Ayr United with the knowledge Falkirk’s draw with St Mirren earlier in the day meant victory would move them up to second.
Despite another plethora of chances, the Somerset Park trip finished goalless.
Then, on Saturday, another draw for their rivals put them in the same early-evening situation, this time at Tannadice against Dumbarton.
The Sons, though, lived up to this season’s billing as the Tangerines’ bogey team and, in the end, it took a 79th-minute equaliser from in-form Thomas Mikkelsen to give Ray McKinnon’s men even a point.
That means Saturday at Morton is their last-chance saloon, so long as runners-up spot goes. However, even if a first league win on the road since mid-December is forthcoming, Dumbarton will have to do them a rare favour by taking something off the Bairns.
Whether or not the chances of Stevie Aitken’s side doing that have been improved by the Tannadice point that effectively leaves them safe from relegation is hard to tell.
Come Saturday they might be on their holidays and given the effort put in to hang on to their Championship status, no one could blame them.
If Dumbarton can’t help out, it will mean United face three games against Morton in a week. Not that, whatever happens, Saturday’s clash should be taken as an great indication of what might happen in the first play-off.
Knowing for a couple of games now his side had no chance of finishing second, Ton boss Jim Duffy has been resting as many of his key players as possible.
The side that lost at Dunfermline on Saturday included several young players and it’s likely to be the same again this weekend before Duffy fields his strongest possible line-up next week.
What’s gone before this season is, perhaps, a better indicator of what to expect from a United-Morton play-off.
Four games so far suggests it’s going to be close. United lost in Greenock in the League Cup in September but bounced back with a league win at Tannadice just days later.
The two Championship clashes since ended in stalemate leaving these potential opponents with identical records.
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