Preston North End went to Ewood Park knowing that a win would put a marker down on the rest of the play-off chasing pack this weekend.
The fact that they left with nothing is a bitter pill to swallow for the 6,000 travelling fans as well as a manager who was so angry that he didn't want to see his players in the away dressing room at full-time and was insistent that they'd be back to work on Saturday morning.
With the exception of the excellent Daniel Iversen, you looked at the North End squad on show at Blackburn and thought this was pretty much as strong as it gets. Paul Heckingbottom had a strong XI and a bench of players more than capable of changing the game.
They started the stronger. Overloads down their left side were a regular occurrence in the first half hour. Lewis Dobbin and Alfie Devine provided flashes of quality, but it never really felt sustained. They certainly weren't forcing opposing keeper Balazs Toth into too much work.
The second half proved a real anti-climax from a North End perspective. Wing-backs Small and Lewis were introduced early in the second half. Small saw one deflected shot go wide but didn't really influence it after that. Lewis never looked like he was asking Alebiosu a question on the opposite flank.
The forwards were changed as the like-for-like substitutions continued with Lang and Jebbison replacing Dobbin and the ineffective Osmajic. Again, the threat didn't really come.
Devine's free kick from the left that struck the outside of the post and a skirmish in the box after a Toth misjudgment were as close as they came to a winner.
Although Blackburn might have been more proactive in the final third, a goalless draw was always the most likely outcome, and the Yuki Ohashi heartbreaker so late on will be a real sore one.
This is a really big week for North End. A long trip to Swansea followed by a home match against former boss Alex Neil's high-flying Millwall – these are two real testers.
If North End are to be serious play-off contenders, they've got to improve the level of consistency.
Five wins in the past 19 league games isn't going to take them into the top six.
We've been here before with North End, great starts to the season without the greatest finish. They're capable of turning it around… Tuesday's selection at Swansea will be very interesting.