Paul Buckle has had a satisfactory week, a fairly unusual occurrence in the tumultuous opening to his career as Bristol Rovers manager, but a positive period nonetheless.
Languishing in 18th place in League 2, the early promotion tips have been underachieving greatly, the support quickly growing weary of the performances put in under Buckle's stewardship.
There have been home defeats to Cheltenham, Port Vale and Barnet, and thrashings on the road at Crawley and Oxford, the voices on the terraces calling for their managers head, meaning the 1-1 draw on the road to league leaders Southend last Saturday came as a relief to many supporters.
And so came the chance to make amends on Sunday, Rovers lining up against Southern Premier League AFC Totton, three full divisions lower than the West Country club, a place with the big guns in the FA Cup third round up for grabs.
The Pirates turned up on the south coast and looted Totton for all they were worth with a display of exquisite finishing, easing some of the mounting pressure on Buckle's shoulders, and setting up a home tie against Premier League Aston Villa at the Memorial Stadium in January.
Though the far less illustrious Stags controlled much of the opening five minutes, a storm of Rovers attacks killed off the tie within a quarter of an hour.
Joe Anyinsah was the first to ripple the net, driving past Grant Porter after skipping away from two defenders to score his fifth goal of the season.
There was little time for the home side to regain their composure, Mustapha Carayol marauding forward from the centre circle to the edge of the Totton area, dispatching the ball onto the underside of the crossbar and over the line for a stunning second.
While the first two strikes had been absolute pearlers the third was arguably the best of the lot. Right back Danny Woodards pushed forward, his ball inside kindly bouncing up for the 28 year old to emphatically volley into the bottom corner with his weaker foot, his first for the club.
The non-league side could easily have been shell-shocked - no doubt both sets of supporters were - but they continued to push for a way back into the game, almost pulling one back when former Rovers youth Jonathan Davies' deflected strike was cleared off the line by Andrew Dorman.
Carayol's game was tarnished after squaring up against Totton's assistant manager, who appeared to stick out a leg the way of the winger as his momentum took him off the pitch. The Gambian received a yellow card for his troubles, before being replaced by Eliot Richards in the 41st minute.
Visiting custodian Scott Bevan pulled off a barely-believable double save in the opening minutes of the second half, preventing Nathaniel Sherborne and Mark Osman from getting on the scoresheet, Gary Sawyer then having to keep out Davies instinctive flick on the line.
Soon enough the fourth tier side made their prowess count once again, Byron Anthony rising to head Richards corner home in front of the travelling fans.
Totton did eventually score a consolation, Sherborne flicking Tom Baddeley's cross past Bevan, but little over a minute later the four goal advantage was restored, Richards swivelling to thrash the ball past Porter for the fifth.
His fellow substitute Ben Swallow, making his first appearance of the season for Rovers, lasted barely six minutes on the Testwood Stadium turf, the young Welshman handed a straight red card for a lunge on Totton captain Carl Pettefer.
After three minutes of stoppage time were signalled there was still time for the Pirates to bag another, Matt Harrold laying the ball across for Richards who showed neat footwork and technique, placing his final shot for a seventh goal of an entertaining afternoons football.
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