Southampton slumped to a 5-0 defeat away at Leicester City on Tuesday night.
The game had lost some of its hype given Russell Martin‘s side lost to Cardiff City at the weekend meaning this game was not the huge automatic promotion clash it looked as though it could be.
Southampton put in one of their worst performances of the season as they allowed Leicester to cut through them at will.
The win leaves Leicester one win from securing a return to the Premier League.
If Southampton are to achieve the same thing they now know it will have to be via the play-offs.
In a game that gave Martin a chance to assess how his side fair against the league leaders the manner of the defeat will be a real cause for concern.
There were few positives to take from the game, with Southampton failing to register a single shot on target as well as their porous defensive display.
Neil Warnock sends Russell Martin stark warning
Neil Warnock was in the Sky Sports studio as a pundit for the Leicester clash.
He was joined by ex-Southampton and Leicester manager Nigel Pearson, with another ex-Sant presenting the show in David Prutton.
Warnock has seen and done it all, with eight EFL promotions to his name according to Transfermarkt, as well as a number of relegation great escapes.
The 75-year-old who last managed Aberdeen has an abundance of experience and knows a thing or to about how to negotiate this stage of the season.
Therefore, when Warnock speaks it would be wise for Championship managers to listen.
In the immediate aftermath of the 5-0 battering at the hands of Leicester, Warnock issued a warning to Southampton and their manager.
As the Sky Sports cameras focused on Martin, the veteran manager commented: “67% possession, they got beat 5-0. They’re going nowhere, their mind is on other things.”
He then offered the Saints boss some advice, as he added: “It’s not going to be easy for Russell now. He’s got to chirp them up a bit now and get them into form again to go into the play-offs because you can’t just switch on in football whenever you want.
“If he has two more games like that I wouldn’t say they’re favourites to go up.”
Martin must use final Championship games to build momentum
Southampton now have to dust themselves down ahead of their final two league games of the season.
Martin will not accept the performance at Leicester and may have learnt a thing or two about his players who it could be argued gave up.
Next up for the Saints is Stoke City at home before a trip to Leeds United for the final game of the season.
That Leeds clash had the potential to one a monumental fixture to end the season, but Southampton will now travel to Elland Road wondering what might have been.
With the likes of Flynn Downes and Ryan Manning carrying knocks, Martin had hinted even before the Leicester game he would not take risks with their fitness with the play-offs in mind.
Whilst that is likely to remain the case, Southampton have to find the motivation to use their remaining to games as a chance to find form ahead of the play-offs.
If they don’t, it could well be very difficult for them to suddenly turn it on again for those post-season clashes as Warnock has warned.