Tuesday 10 February 2015 23:16, UK
Cardiff manager Russell Slade acknowledges any dreams of a late play-off charge are effectively over after their drab 0-0 draw with Sky Bet Championship strugglers Brighton.
The home side were booed off after another dispiriting performance in a game that did not see a shot on target until five minutes into the second half.
Aron Gunnarsson missed the Bluebirds' best chance of a winner when he somehow headed Peter Whittingham's corner over from just outside the six-yard box.
It leaves the Welsh club, among the pre-season promotion favourites, 16 points off the play-off places and just six above the bottom three.
Slade had previously refused to write off their chances of getting into the top six, but admitted such targets are now "unrealistic".
He said: "You would have to say that is now unrealistic. If you were being honest, we would have to put some run together to get us up there.
"That does not mean it is impossible, it can happen, but we do not look capable of that at the minute.
"We have had two draws in a row and we are not picking up wins."
Slade also admitted he shared some of his supporters' frustrations after a largely lifeless display.
"It was poor, it was a really poor game in that first half where the two sides cancelled each other out," said the former Leyton Orient manager.
"We tried to show more intent after the break by going with two strikers up front and we had two decent chances to win the game.
"It always looked like a tight game and it was no classic by any means but it was important we kept a clean sheet even though we could not get the winning goal."
For Brighton, this ended a three-match losing sequence, and perhaps they should have left with all three points after Leon Best and Lewis Dunk missed good chances midway through the second half.
But Millwall's win at Birmingham means the Seagulls are now only above the drop zone on goal difference.
However, manager Chris Hughton was satisfied with a point on the road.
He said: "It was a hard earned draw for us and we have to be happy.
"This is a difficult place to come, they are a good side and we knew what we were up against.
"They are direct and you have to be able to cope with that. Kenwyne Jones is better than many at that sort of thing and we handled him pretty well.
"So I felt we could have capitalised on the possession we had and some breaks we formed well.
"I am disappointed we did not make more of our opportunities, but we deserved nothing less than a draw."
