Liam Fox stepped into the role of Hearts interim head coach after Steven Naismith was sacked following a dismal run of results.
The Jambos were rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table without a win in six before the boardroom pulled the trigger on their former boss.
It was a situation which then saw former Dundee United boss Fox take over and he has steadied the ship to a point.
Defeat to Aberdeen over the weekend was the latest in a long line of disappointments for the club so far this term but the 40-year-old revealed he did see some positives at Pittodrie.
Jorge Grant was shown a red card with the score tied at 2-2 before Ante Palaversa would go on to seal all three points but Fox refused to point the finger.
Instead he accepted the Hearts midfielder’s apology and hoped to move on from what may well be his final game in the dugout as boss with the international break now approaching.
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“We created loads of chances, some really good chances. That happens in football,” admitted Fox. “On another day you’d hopefully take them and the outcome is different.
“The red card definitely changes the flow of the game. The other thing that’s worth mentioning is that the second [Aberdeen] goal, the ball’s actually still moving from a free-kick.
“They go up the park score. Jorge Grant is then booked for dissent because he’s complaining about the ball moving, and then he gets sent off on a challenge.
“So, yes, there’s frustration there, there’s disappointment. It’s a sore one to take.
“I’ve spoken to John [Beaton] very quickly. He just said that decision was on him. First and foremost, Jorge Grant’s put his hands up and he feels he’s let the team down.
“There’s no doubt that sending off changes the flow of the game, it changes the momentum. That’s football. We work in a world of really, really small margins and I just thought those couple of things went against us today.”
Fox may yet be given more time as boss until the full-time Naismith replacement arrives but he’s not sure of what comes next.
Whatever happens, the B-team manager has been “honoured” by the club and believes all that was missing was a domestic victory from his time at the helm.
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“I’ve no idea until somebody from the club tells me differently but until such times that is, I’ll be back to work tomorrow,” Fox insisted.
“We’ve also got the international break now which will probably allow the club a wee bit of time to go through the process – which I’m sure they’re already going through.
“It’s been a privilege and an honour for me to do this role and even in the short term, I’m just disappointed that we didn’t take something from today.
“I need to give credit to the players because it would have been very, very easy to go under. The atmosphere was really good today, Aberdeen had been flying high, but I thought we bounced back really quickly.
“I thought we got control of the game, I thought we passed it well, we moved it well, we pressed really, really well, we created chances. So, there’s a lot of positive things to take but we’ve come away with nothing. That’s the disappointment.”