Mick McCarthy's Cardiff City saw their playoff chances take a major blow on Monday evening when they were trounced by bottom club Sheffield Wednesday.
The Yorkshire club found themselves at the bottom after Wycombe's win over Rotherham earlier in the day.
However, they made light work of the visitors at Hillsborough by crashing in three goals in the first 23 minutes.
After an initial good run of form since taking over in January, McCarthy's side have now just one win in six.
The #Bluebirds suffer a heavy defeat in South Yorkshire.#CityAsOne pic.twitter.com/S4nredsRLr
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) April 5, 2021
"It was a humbling experience this evening, that's for sure," McCarthy said after the match.
"The first goal set them up with a bit more confidence than they would have done, with where they are.
"Having watched it back we should have defended it better, lets put it that way, that's disappointing.
"The second goal, I'm not sure what we can do to stop that, to be quite honest with you. Maybe stop it at source from the throw-in.
"But they've worked it well. The cross from the wing-back and the finish from Paterson; well it was an amazing goal."
While McCarthy believed his side performed better after the interval, they still conceded twice in the second half.
"I thought we started the second half well, we've had a couple of scrambles and couldn't score and we've been punished for throwing men forward and they've caught us on the break twice.
"But they were considerably better. Being 3-0 up certainly helps, but it was the worst performance we have had since I've been here. And I imagine it's the best Sheffield Wednesday performance all season."
"If we play like that we can forget about the play-offs.
"But if we can play like we did in the first five, six, seven, eight games, who knows?
"But eight points adrift? Look, it was never in the conversation when I turned up. We got ourselves into that position."
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