Ange Postecoglou had given up on football gods and he has never had much affection for VAR.
The Tottenham boss has fumed long and hard about technology and ill fortune in a season where little has gone his way.
But they conspired in his favour at long last in Germany to reignite the dream that his second season might yet end with a trophy.
Spurs seized the initiative in the first half of this Europa League quarter final via a penalty awarded after a VAR intervention when Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper Kaua Santos poleaxed James Maddison.
And converted by Dominic Solanke, holding his nerve to score his first goal for 103 days.
Then his team produced an outstanding defensive display to protect their lead and got lucky when Rasmus Kristensen fired the best of the late chances wide in the closing stages.
And, after all they have endured through a desperate winter, Spurs are going into a European semi-final and the celebrations were euphoric.
Tottenham had been warned the Deutsche Bank Park would resemble a ‘lion’s den’ and Eintracht Frankfurt’s passionate fans did not disappoint, whipping up a terrific pre-match atmosphere and unfurling an elaborate tifo display at one end to greet the teams.
“The Eagles are on the prowl” was the message across the stand, with a huge banner featuring an image of eagles carrying all the trophies won by the club and surrounding the Europa League.
They were winners in 2022, beating West Ham on the way and Rangers in the final on penalties and they hoped the hostile atmosphere would give their team an edge on the pitch.
Eintracht, content to play on the counterattack in the first leg, drawn 1-1 in London last week, came out with more purpose and adventure but Spurs absorbed the early pressure.
Guglielmo Vicario stooped to gather a couple of long-range shots, fizzed across a slick surface. They were straight at him although, after his nervous opening to the 4-2 defeat at Wolverhampton on Sunday, the goalkeeper would have been relieved to collect them safely.
Postecoglou made five changes to the team beaten at Molineux, bringing back those he rested apart from captain Heung-min Son, still ruled out with an injured foot.
Micky van de Ven was in central defence alongside Cristian Romero and a blast of acceleration from Tottenham’s flying Dutchman was required to thwart Hugo Ekitike as he raced clear onto a long ball.
Van de Ven gave the France Under-21 international a few yards’ start and then recovered in the nick of time, sliding into Vicario as he cleared up the danger.
Eintracht lost veteran playmaker Mario Gotze in the first half. Gotze limped off with what seemed to be a hamstring problem and his replacement Fares Chaibi soon tested Vicario with a header.
Mathys Tel recorded the first two efforts of the night for Spurs, either side of the Chaibi header. First, a miscued shot dragged wide from a low cross by Brennan Johnson.
Then a sweet strike with his right foot, drifting in from the left and forcing goalkeepers Kaua Santos into a flying save. Santos had been the hero of the first leg for the Germans but his misjudgement led to the penalty from which Spurs took the lead.
James Maddison was first to a long pass forward by Romero, bursting out of midfield and heading the ball before he was flattened by the onrushing goalkeeper.
Despite the weight of the heavy collision, which left Maddison in need of quite a long spell of treatment, Italian referee Davide Massa needed help from his VAR who sent him to the monitor.
Massa pointed to the spot on his return to the middle, showed Santos a yellow card and Solanke stepped forward to take the penalty and scored for the first time in 12 games.
Maddison tried to continue but went off before the interval, replaced by Dejan Kulusevski.
Tottenham’s concentration and discipline were tested in the second half. They were forced back and took few risks with the onus on Eintracht to make the running.
Postecoglou tweaked his midfield trio to sit Lucas Bergvall alongside Rodri Bentancur and shield the back four and they broke sparingly.
As the clock ticked down he sent on Pape Matar Sarr to patrol midfield and bolstered the defence with Kevin Danso.
Chaibi went close with a free kick, curled wide but Vicario was well protected by those ahead of him and Spurs eked out chances to extend their lead.
Romero and Bentancur both headed wide from corners and Tel fizzed another shot wide.
Vicario made a splendid save from Chaibi before Kristensen squandered the best chance to score a late equaliser and Tottenham’s travelling fans filed out into the rain singing about going to the final in Bilbao.