ASK Steve Bruce for the fixture that turned him into a believer and he barely pauses for a second's thought.
Hull City's home date with Leeds United on December 29 was when everything changed.
Although a magnificent gallop through the final months of 2012 had returned 32 points from 15 Championship games, a sequence that propelled the Tigers from 10th into second, only when the year's final fixture brought something close to perfection did Bruce really pick up the scent of promotion.
An outstanding team performance embarrassed Leeds and earned City their first league double over them since 1987-88 in front of a captivated crowd.
Second-half goals from Corry Evans and David Meyler sealed a 2-0 win, but told Bruce so much more.
"It was the Leeds home game that I really started to believe we could do it," said the City boss.
"It was such a complete performance from back to front. Other than not scoring a few more goals, you couldn't pick fault with it.
"If everyone stayed fit I felt we had an outstanding chance.
"Lo and behold, the outstanding individual for me up until then did get injured.
"With the loss of Sone Aluko and the deterioration of the pitches, it became a struggle towards the end.
"We got to the top of the league by playing some great football and I really enjoyed watching us play.
"That Leeds performance summed up the first half of the season for me. We battered them, it was men against boys.
"It was then I thought 'Hang on, we've got a little sneak here.'"
Bruce is honest enough to admit it was not always plain sailing in his debut City season.
A stuttering run through parts of 2013 gave supporters cause to doubt the Tigers' durability and none more so than in the final weeks of the campaign.
After losing 1-0 to Wolves and drawing 0-0 at home to Bristol City, a 2-0 loss at Barnsley brought about an alarming nadir on the penultimate weekend of the campaign.
And so it came to the final day of the season and a date with Championship title winners Cardiff. Bruce rolled the tactical dice with a bold switch from 3-5-2 back to a 4-4-2 shape that had been used from the outset in just four of the season's 45 games.
"I just thought we had become a bit nervous and a bit edgy and against Cardiff I needed them to go and get after the ball," explained Bruce. "We had to be up and at them so to get that we needed to change.
"The easiest thing in management is not to take those decisions but you have to stand by your convictions. Thank God, it came off."
