Darren Moore questions Sheffield Wednesday mentality after white flag play-off humiliation at Peterborough United

Two goals either side of half-time saw the home side swarm Wednesday in energy, quality and enthusiasm on a night that saw the Owls wilt on the big stage once more.

A team so imperious, so gnarled in its approach for so much of the campaign is now a pale imitation. Barring a miracle of all-time proportions, a summer of post-mortem precedes another season in League One.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” said manager Darren Moore post-match, before alluding to a perceived fragility in the Owls mindset. “We had to come here and perform.

“All you can look at at this stage is when you’re in the arena, mentally and being in control of it, that’s what you look at. That’s most important. When you look at the mistakes, they’re basic elementary mistakes.”

Pressed on a weak performance and asked whether his players have shown little to no bottle when the season has been at its most fraught, he said there was more analysis to be had but accepted that questions are right to be pointed in that direction.

“All eyes will point to that. It’s easy to point towards that because of the result.

“I’ve just said to the group now, and there haven’t been too many words in there because the changing room is quiet, I said that it’s hard to compress into words now. It’s sore, it’s a bad loss for us tonight.

“The manner of the third goal was not acceptable and from there we just became stretched.

“The first and second goals, they can happen. It’s a lapse of concentration from Cammy, it’s a routine save. And then the second is from a deflection in the top corner.

“But it was the third goal that was unacceptable. We’re attacking, they break away. That one was so avoidable. From there the game gets stretched and certainly we didn’t get the rub of the green in our box, but in there box we have to be more ruthless.”