Nigel Pearson has often been critical of his side in the past for not being street-wise in the latter stages of matches.
In the defeat against Millwall in October, the City manager bemoaned a decision they made when they were chasing the game in the final embers of the match. It was a throw-in deep in the opposition's half and instead of launching it into the box, Cam Pring went short.
Moments later the Lions had pinched the ball, gone up the other end and won themselves a penalty which Max O'Leary denied to keep the score at 2-1.
After the game, a perplexed Pearson said: "We continue to make bizarre decisions, like the throw-in at the end where Rob is 6ft 4" and he shows for Pringy to throw the ball at his feet. And they get the penalty off it.
"It has to go in the box. We make these strange decisions on the pitch. If we were in front you would expect the ball to come into the box and yet we go down a different route ourselves. I find it bizarre that at times we make these types of decisions."
In August, Kal Naismith played an inexplicable pass across his own defence that allowed Blackpool's Theo Carbeanu to score a 90th-minute equaliser in a 3-3 thriller at Bloomfield Road. One hoof up field and City would have been leaving the seaside resort with three precious points.
Fast forward to Saturday and Pearson changed his tune about City's effectiveness towards the end of matches. As the clock edged towards the final five minutes with the visitors 3-1 ahead, it never felt as though the hosts were going to get themselves back into it.
An exception can be made in the final minute when O'Leary made a brilliant stop from a header but City managed the game well, particularly in the second half by dropping deeper, closing off the space and making life frustrating for Rotherham.
After the match, Pearson praised both Pring and Kal Naismith for their contributions while also pinpointing the positive intent as key to victory. However, there was one more small aspect to the match that had the manager smiling as the home fans filtered out of the stadium.
He said on the full-time whistle: "I thought we managed the clock really well today to the extent where we annoyed the crowd which always amuses me. We've had it done to us some many times and it's interesting for me to observe that we can do it.
"But I still think we could have run the clock down more efficiently in the corner."
Although it's only a small and relatively simple part of the game it's an intriguing take from the manager and a positive sign that City's game management, which has been poor at times given the number of late goals conceded over the last 12 months, is improving.
Before the Rotherham game, only one Championship side had thrown away more points from winning positions this season than Pearson's men but perhaps the tide is now changing.
The word "efficient" cropped up on two occasions in the post-match interview. The other time when he said: "We always feel we have goals in us. When you've got the likes of Nahki, Andi Weimann, Tommy Conway, Chris Martin, Sam Bell... they've all got their strengths in terms of scoring goals and we've not always had goals from midfield and there we go.
"Joe (Williams) has got one from there today. Those are the elements that we need to try and improve over a sustained period of time to make us a more efficient team."
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