Furious Omer Riza was dealt a triple whammy as his Cardiff City side were beaten 2-1 by relegation rivals Luton Town.
The Bluebirds boss looked shaken by a torrid evening in the capital where everything that could go wrong did indeed go belly-up.
The trio of disasters have left Riza admitting Cardiff are now once more fighting for their lives to avoid going out of the Championship.
Firstly, he lost his skipper Aaron Ramsey to a right hamstring injury early in the second half.
Then, he saw his side concede what he deemed to be “two comical goals” as they gave up their advantage after Calum Chambers had lashed in a long range special.
To make matters worse, Derby County beat Coventry City 2-0 to add further spice to the relegation battle.
Cardiff now have 36 points, Derby have 35 and Luton 34 - the only team below them are Plymouth on 30.
“Disappointed is an understatement. We aren’t doing the things we need to do to win games,” said Riza.
“We are still making fundamental mistakes and have fundamental flaws. We forced balls into areas, lost balls and the goals we gave away were comical.
“There weren’t enough people getting out to the ball and putting their bodies on the line. The second goal was comical as well.
“We aren’t doing the basics well enough and it’s costing us and we are now in big trouble.
“We’ve got nine games left and we need to stop doing these things or we aren’t going to win games.
“The effort and commitment is there, but we are talking about other things and I’m not seeing them.
“We are now in a fight and we have got to see who is going to step up for this club.
“We’ve got nine games to go and we’ve got to fight in every minute and for every blade of grass. We have been pulled right back into the relegation battle.
“People say this squad is too good to get relegated, but this squad is where it is because of what it’s doing. The boys need to understand where we are at.
“At the moment the jury is out on whether we have the players who can go out there and battle because we haven’t been doing that.”
READ MORE: Omer Riza Tells Cardiff City To Wake Up And Smell The Relegation Threat
Ramsey, the 34-year-old Wales captain, was only starting for the third time in the fifth game in his latest comeback from a five month hamstring injury absence.
After a goalless first half in a tense relegation battle the Bluebirds pressed higher after the break and Ramsey attempted a back heel in the 49th minute.
He was unchallenged but immediately clutched his right hamstring. He walked towards the bench, showed his obvious frustration by ripping off his captain's armband and throwing it to the ground, and departed.
It’s an injury that could have serious repercussions for both club and country, with Ramsey now a major doubt to make the Wales squad for the opening World Cup qualifiers, which is due to be announced on Wednesday morning.
Ramsey looked a sad sight as he headed down the tunnel, although within a minute one of his old Arsenal teammates, Calum Chambers, had finally broken the deadlock with a shot from just outside the area.
READ MORE: Aaron Ramsey Return Provides Some Light on Dark Weekend For Cardiff City
Cardiff only held the lead for seven minutes before Luton struck back with a wonderful volley from the edge of the 'D' by Jordan Clark.
Then, Theo Aasgaard scored the winner in the 79th minute to give Matt Bloomfield only his second win since taking charge in January.
Riza added: “The boys have got to dig deep to help get us out of this situation because we will have to pick the squad accordingly to get us out of that now.
"We will go back in on Thursday and reassess the squad. I will be making the changes necessary to get a result. Will it be ugly? It looks like it. I want boys on the pitch who are going to fight."
