The heroes of the hour may all have been recent arrivals but there was something blissfully familiar about Hull City's first home win of the Premier League season.
Victory over Crystal Palace was 2013-14 revisited. More efficient than effervescent, more dogged than dynamic, but reverting to type delivered three precious points when they were needed most.
Although there has been much to admire in the changing face of City of late, abandoning wholesome former habits had come at a cost.
Five games without a win to be precise.
The moment called for the spirit of seasons past; a collective responsibility and focus. And it arrived in spades.
The Tigers were seldom pretty in a fixture that often mirrored a dank afternoon, but once the sun emerged on the full-time whistle it shone on Steve Bruce and his industrious side.
A first home win in the Premier League since the opening weekend of April was fully deserved.
An in-form Crystal Palace side were contained and then patiently dismantled through the well-taken goals of Mohamed Diame and Nikica Jelavic.
Bruce accused his side of making "hard work" of the fixture but after recent setbacks that felt like a feather in the cap.
Sleeves were rolled up and the rewards came.
All the City boss will have wished for ahead of the international break and subsequent fixtures with Arsenal and Liverpool was a win and clean-sheet.
He got both. No matter the style, Bruce got all he asked for.
"It's always nice to be able to revert back to something," said Bruce, satisfied that his recalled 3-5-2 formation had drawn a winning hand.
"We've had success by being resolute and difficult to beat in the last two years and this was much more like it."
Bruce had seen afternoons such as these unfold time and again during his two full seasons at the helm, but the players he had to thank were those he believes can now take the club to another level. A new dog had old tricks.
The spine of the side had Diame and Michael Dawson in dominant form, while Jelavic led the line with laudable industry.
Throw in the brilliant Andy Robertson and there was reason to believe City are firmly on the right course. A giant leap up to eleventh in the Premier League was the confirmation.
Another pattern of 2013-14 followed here was the timing of a victory.
Not once did the Tigers ever go six games without a win last season and when three points were needed to halt a slide they arrived like clockwork.
The knack has clearly not left them.
Any notion of being under pressure was carefully avoided by Bruce in the build-up to a meeting with his old adversary Neil Warnock but the City boss knew who needed a result more.
It was beginning to feel like a long time since QPR had been vanquished.
And perhaps it showed in his team selection.
Dusting down the trusty wing-back formation for the first time since it had unravelled in an abject defeat at Aston Villa in August, Bruce tightened up to restore ballast to his side.
There is still work to be done to get it exactly right, as a scrappy first half underlined, but the Tigers will win more than they lose performing this way against an opponent of Palace's limitations.
Although the Eagles were the only side in the bottom half of the Premier League that City failed to collect a point from last season, there was never any chance of that run being extended.
The winner may not always have been apparent but there was little chance of the Tigers losing.
James Chester's return to a back three, alongside Dawson and captain Curtis Davies, galvanised City's defence and let wing-backs Robertson and Ahmed Elmohamady off their leash.
The pair attacked at will and routinely stood as the Tigers' greatest attacking threats.
Elmohamady teed up Jelavic to spurn a decent headed chance inside the opening minutes, tormenting Palace full-back Joel Ward, while at the opposite end of the first half Robertson's advances did similar for Abel Hernandez, who dragged wide of the upright.
The best chance of the opening half was Diame's.
Exchanging passes with Hernandez inside the box, the impressive new midfielder could not quite add the finishing touch the move deserved.
Palace, meanwhile, offered very little.
The supposed threats of Yannick Bolasie and Jason Puncheon left little or no imprint on proceedings.
Fraizer Campbell, the man they love to hate at the KC, was even more ineffective.
Only Mile Jedinak's free-kick over the bar caused brief concern.
City still required a little touch of class to stand apart from their lacklustre guests and it arrived on the hour mark.
Robertson's vision and sweet left foot picked out Diame's run into the Eagles' area and the headed finish matched the assist.
A third goal in four games for the midfielder and a hat-trick of sorts.
After the right-foot finish against West Ham and left-foot finish at Newcastle, use of his head completed the portrait of a complete attacking midfielder.
Bolasie's sweet drive from distance worked Steve Harper with perhaps his only save of note soon after, but the veteran was not to be passed in his first Premier League start of the campaign.
Even when he was beaten, substitute Liam Rosenior was on hand to clear off the line and preserve a clean-sheet in stoppage time.
That also ensured the last word was from Jelavic.
Jake Livermore's tenacity inside his own half dispossessed Joe Ledley and set the Croat galloping clear. Jelavic steadied himself, sent Julian Speroni to ground and calmly finished with the outside of his right boot. City fans could at last breathe easily.
