Well, you didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you?
You didn’t take one look at Carlisle United’s long and stressful history, not to mention this hard and anxious season itself, and conclude that the Blues would be safe with time to spare?
Of course you didn’t. You know this club. The straightforward way is not the Carlisle way. Faced with a steep mountain that's known to claim lives, and a simple road around it, United routinely climb the hill.
And so, here we are again: a bead of sweat forming on the brow as February unfolds. United check their rear-view mirror today and find it filled by the grumpy features of John Joseph Sheridan.
Right now, Carlisle are the ones with a target on their backs. You would still not trade their position for Oldham Athletic’s, given the five-point cushion, but being the hunted is rarely enjoyable.
In which case: it’s time for United to get back on the horse. To start throwing punches of their own. To adopt any other metaphor you choose for the situation.
To demonstrate what Keith Curle notoriously called for after a totally bereft defeat at Accrington Stanley back in April 2015.
Yes, it’s male genitalia time. There are 18 games to go in this relegation battle – which this very much is, even if Keith Millen would rather not think of it that way – and if this is not a time for cojones, what is?
Cojones, and quality. That defeat in Lancashire nearly seven years ago, and manager Curle’s colourful denunciation of it, had the desired effect in terms of reminding United what was what.
From there, the best of their experience and skill rose to the surface where it mattered. Players such as Kyle Dempsey, Jason Kennedy and Danny Grainger came forth and United took seven points from the next nine; enough to ensure their Football League safety.
The Dempsey, Kennedy and Grainger in the current bunch now need to show themselves. There may not be players of that particular calibre in United’s 2021/22 vintage but the floor remains clear for character to reveal itself.
Put another way, the transfer deadline day revamp has to work if Carlisle are to end this traumatic campaign in any sort of comfort. Saturday’s game at Rochdale was a washout but it seemed clear that Millen wasn’t going to waste much time in introducing some of his newest recruits.
Nor should he. There is undoubted and, instinct says, necessary experience in two members of the fresh influx. Kristian Dennis and Jamie Devitt looked relaxed and at ease as they poked their heads out of the tunnel at the Crown Oil Arena and chatted with staff and media before the weekend postponement.
They did not carry the thousand-yard stares of the frequently defeated. They have been around this sort of thing before. It is hard to imagine their teeth chattering in terror as they lace up their boots amid the run-in.
Good. United are going to need clear thinking as well as the anatomical benefits Curle called for. Millen also hopes last Monday’s fresh five will turn up without the psychological baggage of the struggle to date (there are younger names in Owen Windsor and Mitchell Roberts, plus the mid-twenties Tobi Sho-Silva), and Tuesday night against Port Vale offers the first chance to test these theoretical merits.
It would be foolish to expect instant dividends but Carlisle do not have the time to allow players a long run-up to form and fitness. Either there is a certain readiness right now, or that late-in-the-day trading was further flawed and just another layer of frustration applied. Hopefully the former proves the case.
As for others in the mire, some new narratives are certainly emerging yet it would be unwise to assume courses are now changed beyond doubt. Second-bottom Oldham, under Sheridan, have just won their first league game since November 20: a late 1-0 scramble at bottom side Scunthorpe United.
There will now be talk of Shezzurections and other such nonsense. Doubtless events at the Sands Venue Stadium galvanised the Latics like little else in this campaign. The idea an old operator like Sheridan could clear a path to survival at a club where he is popular is by no means far-fetched.
Nor, though, is it guaranteed, and when thinking of Saturday's six-pointer at Scunny, one is reminded of one of the most famous relegation-battle goals in Carlisle’s history: Scott Dobie’s injury-time winner for the nine-man Blues at bottom-three rivals Chester City in 2000.
It felt like a decisive show of defiance by a desperate United. To this day it is recalled as a magic moment. Less mentioned is the fact that this newly-spirited side scored a total of one goal in their next six games. They clung on pathetically, staying up on goal difference at the expense of a marginally more pathetic Chester. In many other seasons, they'd have been finished off.
Similarly, Oldham cannot presume Junior Luamba’s late winner on Saturday equals an inevitable march up the table. They remain at the far south of League Two for a reason, and the sooner that balloon is burst, the sooner Sheridan’s hoped-for revival will be examined seriously once more.
At the very bottom, Scunthorpe have shown no sign of a lift of their own under Keith Hill and are now in a seven-game losing run. It does not help Carlisle that others, such as Colchester United, Barrow and Stevenage have chiselled out points recently, but we should very much keep an eye on Walsall, who have plunged into the drink with six losses on the spin.
The fourth-bottom Saddlers are now at the point where it would be a small surprise if manager Matt Taylor is still in post by the time you are reading this. They are in this mess, beyond dispute.
As, we have to underline most of all, are Carlisle, and wherever the above conjecture leads you, one thing absolutely emphasised by results on Saturday is that United cannot assume safety because of the incompetence of others.
The risk has grown by a few percentage points. A side with the worst goalscoring record in League Two, and in a five-game winless run of their own, is not going to hold off predators for long without getting a grip, however poor those teams around them.
It was never going to be a doddle, and if all this is resolved before late April it will be a highly unlikely Carlisle United turn of events. All the more reason, then, to start the fightback - and show the necessary reproductive organs - now.
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