Having suffered the embarrassment of a 3-0 hammering at Plymouth Argyle and a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Burton Albion, Exeter City's draw with York on Saturday showed signs of improvement.
For starters they managed to get a point – something that had eluded them in the previous two matches.
However, the performance was also a lot better, allowing manager Paul Tisdale to declare that he was proud of his players' effort and commitment.
However, does the York City game represent a corner turned as the Grecians look to improve on their poor start to the new campaign?
Well if you look at it from defending set-pieces you would have to say no. City conceded a late equaliser in the match when poor marking allowed Keith Lowe to steal in at the back post and head home.
Defending dead ball situations has been a problem area for City for a couple of years now. However, so far this season – if you exclude Tyler Harvey's goal direct from a free-kick at Home Park – City have let in just two goals from set-plays.
Teams, no matter whether they use the man-to-man or the zonal marking system, will always concede from set-pieces.
City favour the zonal system, which has more critics in England than it does on the Continent, buy the fact of the matter is that there is very little to choose between the two systems.
If players do their jobs correctly both can be effective.
For City's corner on Saturday, Scot Bennett gets caught under the ball at the back post and Lowe sneaks in between him and Graham Cummins to head the ball. Not one City player is attacking the ball as it drops and you also have to question where goalkeeper Christy Pym is as well. This is because the ball has travelled a long way before it drops at the corner of six yard box. Should he be claiming that ball?
Another disappointing factor to come out of Saturday was the fact that the attendance for the game was only 2,741 – proving City are certainly not turning the corner when it comes to attracting fans back through the turnstiles.
It is the lowest attendance seen for a home league game at St James's Park since September 2006 when City beat St Albans 4-2 in front of a crowd of 2,494. That was almost eight years ago and let's not forget it was also when City were playing in the Conference.
Who knows what effect a gate below 3,000 at every Saturday home game this season could have on finances at the club.
Therefore it is a problem that needs addressing and addressing quickly.
In terms of positives from Saturday's game though, I thought the change in tactics showed an adaptability in the side which could prove useful at home this season.
Graham Cummins and Scot Bennett put in excellent displays up front as they battled with the York centre back pairing of Lowe and Dave Winfield.
They seemed to relish that physical encounter and in fairness Cummins didn't get the support he deserved from referee Stephen Martin, as Lowe fouled him on a number of occasions without punishment.
Midfielder Matt Oakley, who played in the centre of defence, also deserved his man-of-the-match award.
I thought his accurate long balls up field allowed City to get on the front foot quickly as the York defence got turned and put under pressure by City's attack. Often they would be rushed into a hurried clearance and kick the ball out for a throw.
At which point Oakley would then dart forward and hurl the ball into towards the box to cause even more problems.
As Tisdale said after the game it wasn't the prettiest football, but he was perhaps hampered into playing that way with key players missing from the side.
Sometimes you have to win ugly to be successful and that is what City were trying to do on Saturday.
They have been accused before of trying to play the same passing, counter-attacking football that has worked so well on the road too much at St James's Park. Saturday showed they can mix things up and have a successful plan B up their sleeve.
I thought City deserved the win and if they had managed to defend from that 82nd minute corner then fans might have been talking about them turning one in terms of the season.
