While their relegation rivals have ducked out and made excuses, Middlesbrough remain the only Premier League club outside the top six in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.
Prolonged participation may yet come at a cost — they are two points above the drop zone — but that is not dampening the mood on Teesside.
Even Oxford United boss Michael Appleton — whose League One side were beaten despite recovering a two-goal deficit — saw fit to applaud the home fans before his own, such was the atmosphere at the Riverside.
Boro's fans, players and management are refusing to subscribe to the notion that the Cup is a distraction from their prospects of survival, even if it is exactly 20 years since they reached the final of both domestic cup competitions and were relegated from the Premier League.