After 13 attempts approaching an excruciating four years Martin O'Neill is still cursing the slides of March.
And the Aston Villa boss simply has to end the hoodoo if he is to finally reward his steady progress by gatecrashing the top four this season.
O'Neill has NEVER won a Premier League game in March at Villa and was forced to endure the equivalent of an afternoon in the dentist's chair as his bid for a Champions League place was blown off course in a howling gale at the Britannia Stadium.
Villa's last March win came when David O'Leary was in charge and O'Neill's troops never looked like killing off the statistic against battle-hardened Stoke.
The chase for fourth place is fast resembling a bar of soap being clumsily tossed around by a bunch of toddlers.
But O'Neill has not tasted defeat in the league this year and remains convinced his European dream is still alive.
He said: "We have not lost a Premier League game since Liverpool four days after Christmas and we're just going to have to turn a few draws into wins. That's really what we're aiming for. We've played a lot of games and covered a lot of ground but this draw was probably a fair result.
"It's a tough place to come and everybody knows what to expect. This was a tough fixture but we've got a game at Wigan on Tuesday that we're going to try and win.
"The players were prepared to put their bodies on the line and we defended very stoutly indeed. We would have loved to have won the game but it was never going to be easy."
While Villa bid to splinter the established order Tony Pulis is still cautiously talking about reaching the 40 point safety mark - but don't be kidded, Stoke are guaranteed a third season at the top table.
And when the manager of the year awards are handed out at the end of the season, the shrewd Welshman shouldn't be too far behind the likes of Alex McLeish and Roy Hodgson.
He has guided the Potters to safety at a canter for the second season running and the biggest compliment he can take from this year is that nobody has ever mentioned Stoke as relegation candidates.
Stoke's street fighters loudly announced their presence in the Premier League by leaving O'Neill with a bloody nose in their first ever home game at this level. That 3-2 win also gave the top flight its first glimpse of the 'Delap-inator' exocet missile - and Villa were subjected to an aerial bombardment from the touchlines early on yesterday.
Delap hurled in six bombs in the first 12 minutes but Villa had clearly done their homework and resisted the pressure.
And the visitors produced the first genuine chance of a sterile first half when Stiliyan Petrov's 30-yard shot was pushed aside by Thomas Sorensen.
In fact the half was so bad that even an elderly couple watching the game for free from the hill between the stands disappeared before half-time!
Without a single snarl of defiance from the home side Pulis had to make changes - and off came Tuncay and Mama Sidibe early in the second half.
Tuncay didn't take the embarrassment of being hooked so early that well, storming off down the tunnel in his second temper-tantrum of the season.
Stronger
The Turk had reacted the same way at Hull in November but Pulis said: "Tunny is a great lad but it makes no difference to me.
"It's all about the team and it needed changing. I'll never change that philosophy, the team is always more important than individuals."
But Tuncay's replacement Ricardo Fuller tested Brad Friedel almost immediately with a tame shot after a slaloming run into the Villa box. Stephen Warnock blocked a late effort from Danny Higginbotham before James Milner bent an 86th minute free kick wide but the draw was inevitable.
While this stalemate ensures O'Neill's bid for the top four hit the skids, Pulis has only lost one league game this year.
He added: "We've had so many games recently but I felt we were the stronger team in the final half-hour.
"This is an intimidating place to come to and we try to make it as difficult as we can.
"The players work so hard and are so committed to each other. If we can stay up this year and another one we will have the grounding to push on."
Shiner Faye
The game was physical and uncompromising - just like Abdoulaye Faye, who produced a commanding display at the back.
Stoke: Sorensen 6m - Huth 7, Faye 8, Higginbotham 7, Collins 6 - Delap 6, Whelan 6, Whitehead 6, Etherington 6 - Sidibe 4 (Kitson 54), Tuncay 5 (Fuller, 54mins).
Aston Villa: Friedel 6 - Cuellar 6, Dunne 7, Collins 7, Warnock 6 - Downing 6, Milner 7, Petrov 7, A Young 7 - Heskey 5, Carew 5 (Agbonlahor, 77mins).
Ref: K Friend 7
Shocker Tuncay
Another temper tantrum after being subbed but he could have no arguments. Thoroughly ineffectual.