After squandering much of the advantage following five sessions of gritty batsmanship, breathtaking pace, sublime swing and tricky spin bowling, you could have excused Pakistan's spin-bowling coach for being somewhat miffed at what transpired in the final session. Mushtaq Ahmed, though, ever a ray of sunshine, insisted there was no cause for irritation, adding that the scorecard, and the first-innings lead, meant he was "very confident" about the direction of the game.
"We're not frustrated," he said at the video press conference. "It's been awhile since we played Test cricket. But the guys are now getting back into the swing of things. We are very confident. We've got a 244-run lead, and if we get another 20-30 runs, it'll be a very good score on this pitch. If we bowl and field well, I think this will be a very good Test match."
A scoreline of 137 for 8 may not make for pretty reading, but Pakistan's overnight lead already means England will have to pull off the second-highest chase in the venue's history to take a series lead here. And while that should assuage any Pakistani nerves, they will doubtless be ruing some of the unforced errors that allowed England a look-in once more. Shan Masood, a picture of resolute steel for much of Pakistan's first innings, tickled Stuart Broad down the legside, for a catch so straightforward even the beleaguered Buttler couldn't fail to hold on to. By his currently stratospheric standards, it was a soft dismissal.
Pakistan would give away a few more wickets to poor decision-making, from low-percentage slogs they didn't need to go for, (a la Abid Ali), to unnecessarily risky singles (in the mould that saw Asad Shafiq run out). With Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah and Yasir Shah the only survivors from the innings overnight, there is little confidence Pakistan can add too much to the overnight tally, but Mushtaq dismissed suggestions complacency had played any role in some of the mistakes the visitors made.
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"I don't think we were complacent," he said. "The boys are very focused. But whenever we were about to put up a partnership, we lost a wicket. The Asad dismissal was a bit painful because the scoreboard had started tickling along and both batsmen were set. Like I said, the boys are playing cricket after a while so you need to understand the ebbs and flows of the game and that sometimes takes time.
"But there isn't need to worry too much," he added. "The way Yasir and Shadab bowled, they understand the pitch and the pace you have to bowl to each specific batsman and the field positioning you need to have. I think they're very confident in the way they bowl. Yasir began with nerves but you can understand that. Both spinners bowled very well in the middle session, and that gives me hope they can play a crucial role as long as they have a decent target to defend."
For all of Mushtaq's diplomacy, however, there's little doubt Pakistan will be privately seething at the opportunities they handed England during a final session that they may yet look back upon with remorse. If the bowling performance in that fourth innings is half as decent as it was in the second, though, then Pakistan supporters, like the implacable Mushtaq Ahmed, may indeed have little to worry about.