A Sunderland victory against Birmingham City screened live on Sky, Dennis Cirkin injured ahead of the game, Tony Mowbray praising a patched-up defence, and a Blues boss railing against the sloppy goals his side had conceded. Yes, Sunderland fans will have fond memories of last November's Armistice Day win at St Andrew's.
And, a year later to the very day, there was a sense of deja vu all over again as Sunderland pulled off a similar trick. The venue may have switched to the Stadium of Light and the scoreline may have ended up 3-1 rather than 2-1, but the other parallels remained.
The date, the opponents, the presence of the TV cameras. Cirkin was injured in the run up to the game a year ago; this time he pulled out of the warm-up with his troublesome hamstring causing him discomfort.
Sunderland were down to the bare bones in defence in the Midlands a year ago with Niall Huggins asked to start his first game after 14 months on the sidelines; this time, with Dan Ballard and Luke O'Nien suspended, the Black Cats had to rely on rookie centre-backs Nectar Triantis and Jenson Seelt, who were both making their first league starts. Last year it was John Eustace moaning about the manner of the goals his Birmingham side had conceded; this time it was his replacement Wayne Rooney as the former Manchester United and England man attempted to explain his fourth defeat in five games at the helm.
And, as the Championship season pauses for an international break - this time last year it was for the winter World Cup - Sunderland can be hugely encouraged by their position with a third of the campaign now gone. They go into the break on the back of a three-game unbeaten run which has returned seven points, sitting sixth in the table, and with six more points on the board after 16 games than they had at the same stage last term.
Yes, there is still work to do to integrate the summer transfer intake, but they are slowly beginning to look more at home. This was Nazariy Rusyn's best game yet, with the Ukrainian striker the width of the post away from scoring his first goal, and later providing the assist for Jobe Bellingham to open the scoring against his former club.
On-loan Chelsea frontman Mason Burstow also looked livelier when coming off the bench late on than he had in some of his starts. Eliezer Mayenda made his long-awaited debut and the Spanish striker brought a good save out of John Ruddy.
The two centre-backs recovered after an uncertain first half and began to grow into the game in the second period, with Triantis' presence forcing the own-goal from one-time Sunderland loanee Dion Sanderson which restored the Black Cats' lead after Koji Miyoshi had levelled before the break. And another new arrival, midfielder Adil Aouchiche, scored his first goal for the club to seal the victory with 15 minutes remaining.
In truth, Sunderland should have been out of sight inside 20 minutes having hit the woodwork twice and had a shot cleared off the line, in addition to Bellingham's goal. Yet after being so dominant, they let Birmingham back into the game in the first half, and had to win it all over again in the second.
Sunderland were not at their best but they got the job done, which is the hallmark of a good side. And having signed off with a win, they can now look ahead with confidence to their long trip to Plymouth Argyle when the season resumes a week on Saturday.