The full-time whistle on Monday night was met with polite applause by those who'd managed to keep themselves awake.
It was akin to the reaction at the end of an amateur theatre performance of Shakespeare; cordial claps masking the 'thank God it's over' feelings.
A meeting between two sides sitting in the Championship top three was always going to be cagey but any Ofcom complaints following Burnley's 0-0 draw with Leeds would be more than justified.
Not one for the neutral is go-to cliché but it wasn't even one for either set of supporters, as significant as a point gained may well be.
Much of the post-match focus was on yet another Burnley clean sheet. Their 20th in 29 games - they've only conceded nine goals in total - rightly drawing high praise.
Strong defence is often the foundation to win titles, but it's rare that's it's paired with such a blunt attack.
The stalemate with Leeds was Burnley's ninth goalless draw of the campaign and the 11th occasion they have failed to score; only relegation-threatened Plymouth and Stoke have a worse record.
"Yeah I think it is," was Scott Parker's reply when asked post-match if the lack of goals would be the difference between automatic promotion and the play-offs.
"I think that's fair to say. That's an element of our game that we need to improve. It's been something we've been working tirelessly with."
Parker knows this division and crucially knows what it takes to win promotion.
There's only so far 0-0 draws can take you. This should be a serious cause for concern.
As we enter February, Burnley are 11th for goals scored the second tier and 20th for expected goals (xG) - a metric for measuring the quality of chances a team creates.
The Clarets have failed to score in 38% of their Championship games, a significantly higher figure than Leeds and Sunderland (both 21%) and Sheffield United (17%).
Recent history highlights how the figure is far too big for a successful side.
Ipswich and Leicester finished the 23/24 campaign on 15% while Southampton were 12%. This figure has been on a downward trend over the years too.
The average among the three promoted sides stood at 21% in 20/21, going to 17% in 21/22, 16% in 22/23 and 14% between those teams previously mentioned.
In fact, from the 30 teams promoted across the last 10 full seasons, only Watford (2020/21) and Middlesbrough (2015/16) have gone up having failed to score in more than a quarter of their games.
Across the past 15 full editions of the Championship, no team has ever been promoted with a fail-to-score ratio of 30% or higher.
Of course, there are still games to play, but Burnley scoring in every single remaining fixture would leave their figure at 24%. Fail to score in three or more and they've hit the dreaded 30% marker.
We have to give acknowledgement to just how good this defence is - one of the best we've seen - but it's hard to escape the reality that action needs to happen at the other end if they are to finish in the top two.
The common belief is that defence wins you titles.
In this case, it may well be an approach which drags them down in to the play-offs.
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