Patience, it appears, really is a virtue. In their second week back in Ukrainian Premier League action after a lengthy winter break, leaders Dynamo Kiev were kept waiting to beat Olimpik Donetsk. Sunday's game was in its fourth minute of stoppage time before teenage substitute Mykyta Burda struck Dynamo's winner.
The club, and their fans, have learnt to hold on, having not won the league since 2009 as Shakhtar Donetsk have dominated. Any residual tension, of course, is strictly relative in a country still gripped by political crisis. The real waiting game in Ukraine is seeing if some sort of resolution can be reached.
In the meantime Dynamo, who are seven points clear at the top domestically as they prepare to travel Everton in the Europa League this week, are attempting to find some sort of normality. Their rookie coach Sergei Rebrov is proving a driving force for a long overdue re-energising of one of European football's biggest names.
Rebrov, having become a club legend during two spells as a player (and especially when forming the strike partnership with Andriy Shevchenko that propelled Dynamo to the 1999 Champions League semifinals) is now well on his way to matching that legacy as a coach -- not least for offering a glimmer of light to a city that has seen some horrors in the last 15 months.
"It's a difficult time for our country," he tells ESPN FC. "I'm always telling the players that football for some people is a brief breath of fresh air. I hope they understand that. I hope the situation [in Ukraine] will get better. Our players don't have any negative feelings now, just positive ones."
It is just under a year since football resumed, with the second half of last season postponed due to the troubles. "It was quite a tense situation at first," says Pete Josse, until recently a resident of Kiev and a regular visitor to Dynamo's Olympiyskiy Stadium.
"People wondered how the fans would react to football coming back, but right away the ultras from all clubs came together to declare their pro-Ukraine intentions. There was never an east versus west mentality, and it seemed club rivalry was put aside for much-needed unity."
That sentiment is echoed by Rebrov. Born in Horlivka in Donetsk province, and a graduate of Shakhtar's youth academy before moving to Dynamo as a teenager, he appreciates the difficulties for his former club, given their displacement to Lviv, but feels that support behind them has redoubled.
"It doesn't matter where I'm from," he insists. "My heart is with Ukraine. We want to be united, no matter where we're from. I'm sure we hope everything will change and Shakhtar -- and the other clubs that have had to move away -- will be able to return home soon."
This week is important for Dynamo, above and beyond the usual sense of representing one's country on foreign soil. The visit to Goodison Park will draw renewed attention to Ukraine in a high-profile setting, with Everton "so well supported," as Rebrov remembers from his own time in England.
"Everybody knows that England is the number one country when it comes to supporting football," he enthuses. "It's positive for the people. Everybody here loves football. Any success for Dynamo is success for the whole of Ukraine. I hope people from outside can see that life is continuing here."
Presenting a positive impression abroad -- and a touch of myth-busting -- is at least as important as sporting success itself. "There is so much misinformation flying around the Russian invasion in the east," Josse says.
"You only have to look at the negative reaction from some Everton fans with the draw. Their fears are, he says, largely unfounded.
"Understandably," he continues, "if you watch the news you would just assume Kiev is on fire, an unsafe place to be; a war zone. None of which is true, of course. The war zone is hundreds of miles from Kiev, but the city remains a safe place to be and to watch football."
Even if a calm has fallen over the capital, Rebrov's achievements since taking over last April are considerable. Never mind outside the club -- the former Tottenham striker had plenty to deal with within it, with an expensive and divided squad having badly underachieved under his predecessor, another notable Dynamo alumnus, Oleg Blokhin.
"The year before [this one]," says Rebrov, "we didn't have a team. I think and hope that now, the players respect each other. We have a lot of players from different nations and they needed to understand each other, and that they come from different backgrounds, cultures and styles of play."
Much has changed since Rebrov and Shevchenko's heyday under the iconic Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Back then, it was a squad entirely comprised of players from Ukraine and other former Soviet countries.
The years in between have taught Rebrov plenty. "All your experiences help you when you become a coach," he says. Even if he is not overkeen to dwell on his time in the Premier League -- "I did play for a few years before I got to England, you know!" he laughs -- he acknowledges the "great experience" he picked up has helped him to adapt to his current challenges.
Is Rebrov surprised that success has been so quick to arrive for him at Dynamo? "When you're working hard," he says, "sometimes it comes. The players are working hard as a team, not as individuals. But you can't stay in the same place. You have keep working."
The next stage of that work is in Europe. There may be more important things than football happening in Ukraine, but Dynamo, and Rebrov, are aware of the small but significant worth of their efforts.