That was the case for Otago despite being humbled by an innings and 43 runs at the Basin Reserve yesterday.
The Volts resumed day three of their Plunket Shield match against Wellington in a hopeless position at 107 for six.
The visiting side had lost 15 wickets during the previous day and still needed a further 78 runs to make the home side bat again.
The remainder of the batting order folded meekly, adding a further 35 runs to the overnight score.
While Otago was thumped, the team will take the odd positive into its third-round match against Auckland at Eden Park Outer Oval next week.
''From a bowling point of view we were good in patches,'' Volts coach Rob Walter said.
''Michael Rae continues to be a wicket-taker. He has taken a wicket in seven spells out of 11 since the start of the season.
''That is a pretty good strike rate to have as a fast bowler.
''Neil [Wagner] continues to take wickets and show his class at this level.
''And it was good to see James Neesham bowling again for us. That added some balance to our side.''
Neesham, who is recovering from a back injury, played as a specialist batsmen in the opening round. But he returned to the bowling crease this week and bowled four maidens in a 10-over stint.
''They were small little wins. I don't want to get too vociferous around the positives too much because we did get a good solid beating, so we couldn't have done a hell of a lot well.
''But those are certainly things I will take out of the game as positives moving forward.''
The batting effort left precious little room for positivity, though. Otago was dismissed for 184 and 142. Wagner was the highest scorer in the game for Otago with a run-a-ball innings of 43.
Twenty-year-old Josh Finnie came into the side as a late replacement for the experienced Neil Broom and recorded two ducks.
Otago's usually reliable opening pair of Brad Wilson and Hamish Rutherford managed just 43 runs between them.
Neesham made two middling scores with the bat and will need to contribute more if he is to hold down the No5 spot, and skipper Rob Nicol was unable to convert on two starts, falling for 19 and 39.
Walter indicated he was unlikely to make many changes despite the heavy loss.
''What we might do is have a look how we went on the Basin and then see if there is anything we can do better from a team point of view.
''We have a full-strength squad with no-one injured so there might be a better combination that we can put together for the game up there.''
Walter was not ''100% sure'' whether Broom, who missed the game for family reasons, would be available next week.
