Darren Moore says 'unacceptable' third goal cost Sheffield Wednesday as play-off hopes go up in smoke in 4-0 defeat at Peterborough United

A goalkeeping error by Cameron Dawson and a deflection off Marvin Johnson as he turned his back on Joe Ward's shot put the Owls 2-0 down after 36 minutes at London Road.

Against a team who finished 19 points below them in the final league table, it was salvageable, with Wednesday having had plenty of possession and half-chances, but they let the setbacks affect them far too badly and ended up losing 4-0.

That, surely, is not salvageable.

Moore pointed the finger at the third goal, scored by Kwame Poku six minutes after half-time arriving unmarked at the end of a counter-attack.

"The first and second goal can happen," reflected Moore. "It was probably a lapse of concentration from Cammy (Dawson, for the first goal) because usually it's a routine save. The second one's just taken a deflection and gone in the top corner.

"The all-important one for us was the next goal and the third one was unacceptable for us because we're attacking, they break away, cross and score at the far post. That was certainly avoidable.

"From there the game certainly becomes stretched.

"The third goal was unacceptable.

"The rub of the green didn't go for us in our box but certainly in their box we had to be more ruthless. We had a couple of chances at 1-0, and at 2-0 we had chances to get back into the game."

When the players went over to thank the away fans at full-time they were told in no uncertain terms where to go by those who had not gone home already.

"That's understandable because of the result," commented Moore. "All we can do is next week make sure we give a better account of ourselves.

"That was unacceptable, really.

"I told the boys they've got to regroup because we've got another game at the S6 and our supporters, our club, want a better performance than that.

"It's an uphill task but we have to regroup and keep the focus and determination. If you go into next week and believe there is no hope, there is no hope."

The second leg, for what it is worth, is on Thursday.

Having been knocked out of last season's play-offs at the semi-final stage, Moore's position will be under intense scrutiny but he was reluctant to go into depth about what he thought went wrong.

"There weren't many words in the dressing room afterwards, it was so quiet," he said. "It wasn't easy to put things into words because after the game you're sore.

"I need the next 24 hours to reflect and have some quiet time. I'll be more able to talk constructively after that.

"There were one or two basic, elementary mistakes that have not been seen this season and there's nothing we can do about it (now).

"Over the course of the season these players have scored in the majority of the games but their shooting boots weren't on."

On his future he said: "It's too early to speculate on the what ifs. We had a bad night and next week we go again."