The referee, the fightback and the word of the day ... Rotherham United 3 Shrewsbury Town 3
God knows what Howard Webb made of it as he watched from the stands.
Maybe we should have seen it coming.
There was a word writ large on their jerseys as they warmed up in the wind and pouring rain.
Rotherham United's players were, unknowingly, dropping a hint.
It turned out to be a crazy, roller-coaster of a contest at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
There were six goals, two red cards, one referee making a multitude of mistakes and one almighty fightback from a 10-man home side who had kicked off on Saturday in League Two's drop zone following results in the lunch-time games.
As everyone paused to draw breath at the final whistle of 3-3 League Two proceedings with play-off--chasing Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham boss Alex Bruce reflected on a clash that was won, then lost, then saved by sheer-minded will not to succumb to adversity.
"There was a lot of stuff going on," he said. "Trying to dissect it straight afterwards is tough.
"Is it a point gained or two lost? That's a difficult question. We gave a two-goal lead away, but when you're playing for 70, 75 minutes with 10 men and go 3-2 down, you'd probably take a point in the end.
"Listen, I wanted three points. Their manager said to me at the end that he was pleased with a point. We take ours and we move on."
The storm-warning rain was teeming from the start and never relented, the wind so strong that some spectators had to scurry to retrieve caps and hats snatched by the elements.
Also blown away were the opposition in a three-minute burst early in proceedings.
Paul Mullin had been the target of uncomplimentary chants from visiting fans when his third-minute shot was parried to safety by Will Brook.
His way of sticking up two fingers was to deliver two quickfire goals.
The first was a blur of assessing angles, heights and distances, all in a split second, followed by an exquisite lob over the goalkeeper that took a single bounce before nestling in the North Stand net
The second was all about anticipation and timing. Limbs were everywhere in the six-yard as Aaron Nemane crossed low after being freed by Kian Spence's pass, but it was the foot of the Rotherham hitman that got to the ball first to divert it over the line.
Not bad for a 'Wrexham reject'.
The Millers had control, but soon afterwards they no longer had Spence as the midfielder was sent off for the first time in his near-200-game career for a lunge that had no malice yet put far too much meat on Will Gray's shin. Reaching for red was something ref James Oldham did get right.
Gray was a crowd target for a good while thereafter every time he touched the ball, although it was nothing compared to the abuse coming the way of the Derbyshire official.
Oldham was booed at half-time and suffered a similar, even louder fate at the close of clash.
He even incurred the wrath of a genuinely decent man in Bruce who checked before the microphones were switched on what he could say without incurring a charge and then quietly and fairly lambasted the official's display.
One sentence summed up the several others he offered up in the subject: "I think the referee's decisions have got to be better, it's as simple as that."
God knows what one of the best ever, Howard Webb, made of it as he watched from the stands.
Swiftly, it was 2-1 as the Shrews made the most of Julian Eyestone's unsafe hands and Josh Davison bundled the ball in. After the break, as 10 men toiled and tottered, two crosses and two back-post finishes, from Josh Ruffels and Will Boyle, pushed the game seemingly beyond Rotherham's reach.
Replays had Bruce at Boyling point because the Salop man was clearly offside when the ball was flicked on to him.
By now, the last quarter was approaching, and the metaphorical dark clouds hanging over New York were as mean and heavy as the real ones, but then something remarkable happened.
Fans who had departed in droves were left ruing their exit as the Millers somehow roused themselves, and those still inside the ground were treated to Jayce Fitzgerald's 76th-minute pinpoint free-kick being headed beyond Brook by substitute Tom Bradshaw.
Twenty-third spot had become 22nd. Bruce's men wouldn't be spending the next week in a relegation place, which brought a psychological lift of its own.
"The resilience and the desire to get back into the game when it was 10 v 11 and we were behind was something that really pleased me," the head coach said.
"I'm very confident that we will get results. We need to go on a run. I think we've all seen good signs. Yes, we had three bad performances earlier in the month, but we've responded quite well to that. With a couple of players coming back to fitness as well, I feel all right about things."
There was still time for Joe Rafferty to 'old man' his way into evening up the numbers. The shove on him from Kian McMahon-Brown wouldn't have hurt a hyphen, but the captain's fall had Oldham reaching for his pocket again.
Perhaps the comeback was only a dot in the great scheme of a long, challenging season but, then again, perhaps not. Something stirred in those madcap minutes when the Millers refused to accept defeat.
"I sensed there was a bit of a connection there again between the supporters and the players," said Bruce. "I think they could see that the lads dug and they had a go. That's what we all want."
That word I mentioned earlier, by the way …
It applied specifically to an anti-racism message being promoted on T-shirts around the EFL.
But it also summed up the bond and response of a depleted team who, shoulder to shoulder, hauled themselves back into contest that looked to have gone.
'Together'.
Rotherham (4-3-3): Julian Eyestone; Joe Rafferty, Denzel Hall, Dominic Iorfa (Sonny Aljofree 45+17), Kieran Ngwenya; Kian Spence, Jayce Fitzgerland, Josh Austerfield; Aaron Nemane (Brandon Williams 62), Paul Mullin (Tom Bradshaw 62), Jili Buyabu (Brandon Cover 27). Subs not used: Ted Cann, Kane Richardson, Klaidi Lolos.
Shrewsbury (3-4-1-2): Will Brook; Sam Stubbs, Will Boyle, Josh Ruffels; Arkell Jude-Boyd, Tom Sang, Will Gray, Kevin Berkoe; Kian McMahon-Brown; George Lloyd (Michael Golding 45+11), Josh Davison. Subs not used: Cameron Gregory, Isaac Lee, Lino Sousa, Joseph Gbode, Jeval Thompson-McKenzie, Hugo Aiston.
Goals: Mullin 15, 18, Bradshaw 76 (Rotherham); Davison 23, Ruffels 59, Boyle 67 (Shrewsbury)
Referee: James Oldham (Derbyshire)
Attendance: 7,562 (697)