Derry City manager Ruaidhri Higgins bemoaned another "wasted opportunity" after his title-chasing side dropped points for the second time in the space of three days on Monday night with a 1-1 draw against ten-man Sligo Rovers.
And while the Candystripes boss added that it would be a "tough ask" to win their three remaining league games as a multi-pronged title race goes to the wire, he remains confident that they can put three "big performances" together to get over the line.
But it was the nature of their performance against Sligo that has amplified Higgins' frustration more so than the result itself.
Having drawn at home to Bohemians on Friday, the Candystripes had hoped to boost their hopes of pushing for the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title when Sligo visited the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
However, Derry were unable to find a way to overcome the Bit o' Red, who had been reduced to ten men after Luke Pearce was shown a second yellow card on 75 minutes.
The subsequent draw may leave Derry just two points off the summit, but just like leaders Shelbourne, momentum has long deserted them, with just one league win in nine.
But it was the display against Sligo that was of greater concern for manager Higgins.
"Friday I was happy with a large majority of the performance. Tonight in the first half, we were second to everything.
"We lacked energy and belief in the first half and it cost us. Sligo were very, very good but we were poor and we were chasing our tail then second half."
Higgins pondered whether he could have freshened the team up a bit more but felt the players selected on the day should have been capable of performing to a higher standard than they showed.
"It's just extremely disappointing. It's another wasted opportunity. Truth be told it's another wasted opportunity and the likelihood is we'll have to win our last three games I would imagine to try and win this league which is a tough ask. But we have to keep fighting," he said.
Derry visit bottom side Dundalk on Friday, before a trip to in-form St Patrick's Athletic the following week. Then on the final day, Shelbourne come to Derry in a fixture that had previously been billed as a title decider.
However, other clubs have made ground and entered the title equation, although Higgins backed his side to find some resolve, but they will be sweating on the fitness of top scorer Patrick Hoban who went off with a hamstring problem against Sligo.
"The players are more than capable of stringing three big performances together. It's still in our own hands and that's the way we have to think and we have to keep fighting," he said.
"It's easy to throw the towel in. That's the easy option. But we need to keep fighting and I'm sure we will."
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