Soaked to the bone and charging down the touchline in an animated frenzy, Ruben Selles signalled to his players they had five minutes to score an equaliser and save their trainwreck of a season.
Such was the anxiety in the City Ground, that stoppage period felt like an eternity but time soon ticked away and ran out.
Selles knows time is running out for him too as first-team manager, and for Southampton as a Premier League club.
Eleven years as a top-flight entity will soon end barring a miracle of three wins from three to end the season, and a summer of upheaval will follow.