SCOTLAND First Minister Alec Salmond failed to make any headway against former Chancellor Alistair Darling in the first debate on the independence referendum last night.
Trailing in the polls, Scottish Nationalist leader Mr Salmond had hoped to use his well-known charisma in front of the cameras to turn the tide towards the Yes campaign.
But the immediate assessment afterwards actually suggested a victory for the usually mild-mannered Scottish Labour MP, Mr Darling.
A snap poll by ICM found only 37% thought that Mr Salmond had won against 47% for Mr Darling.
Now, this is largely in line with current polling on independence - but, in fact, even 16% of pre-debate Yes voters gave the win to Mr Salmond's opponent.
The reason behind that surely must be the failure of the SNP leader to address majors concerns over which currency Scotland would use if it failed to secure a currency union.
To boos ringing from the audience, Mr Salmond insisted an independent Scotland would be able to keep Sterling, stating "It is our pound as well as England's pound."
But, in a clever line, Mr Darling countered that Scotland leaving the UK and keeping the pound would be "a bit like getting a divorce and keeping the same joint bank account".
Moving on, Mr Salmond asked Mr Darling again and again if he would accept that Scotland could be a prosperous independent country, posing the question on no fewer than 21 occasions.
And, in his opening statement, the First Minister had correctly pointed to the fact that 49 of the 71 countries which took part in the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were either the same size or smaller than Scotland.
He also said: "No one - absolutely no one - will do a better job of running Scotland than the people who live and work in Scotland."
Now, Mr Darling did not exactly entirely refute the claim that Scotland could be a self-sufficient country on its own.
Nevertheless, the main the crux of his argument was that going independent is simply too much of a risk, particularly as there would be no going back.
"There are times that, for the love of our family and the love of our country, it's sometimes best to say 'No' - not because we can't, but simply because it is not the best thing to do," he said.
"And, remember this, if we decide to leave, there is no going back - there's no second chance."
Overall then, this was a difficult night for Mr Salmond who is fast running out of time to convince his electorate of the benefits of independence
In fact, there are now only six weeks until Scotland decides on 18 September.
It was an even worse night, though, for STV - the Scottish broadcaster whose only platform for viewers south of the border was an online stream.
Facing unprecedented demand, the stream unsurprisingly crashed, leading to many jokes on Twitter that its failure indicated Scotland was better off staying in the Union.
Certainly, though, a matter which actually concerns the whole of the UK should have been made available throughout the country - even if it is only those living north of the border who have the vote.
Thankfully, the rematch between Mr Salmond and Mr Darling - penned in for 25 August - will be shown live across the UK on the BBC.
And, if that date is confirmed, it means the debate will come just over three weeks before the referendum itself.
By then, Mr Salmond simply must have eaten into the lead which the Better Together campaign has comfortably held since the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012 set up the vote.
Indeed, on the evidence of last night, it already looks be the case that Mr Salmond has left his push for victory too late.
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