Jack Ross admitted his Hibernian players had been given a stark reminder of the challenge facing them to secure European football next season after a chastening home defeat at the hands of in-form Livingston.
The Easter Road side found themselves two goals down inside the opening 20 minutes as Josh Mullin and Jon Guthrie profited from lapses in the Hibs rearguard to fire the visitors into a commanding lead.
The hosts, beaten convincingly by Ross County in midweek, were blunt in attack and a wild Joe Newell effort shortly before the interval was the only attempt on goal they managed before Scott Robinson, once of Hearts, slotted in the Lions' third two minutes into the second period.
It leaves Ross' men three points behind Aberdeen in third in the Scottish Premiership having played two additional games, and while the Hibs boss admitted it was not "panic stations" in Leith, he warned his charges they can ill-afford to continue allowing their standards to drop.
"We didn't do any aspects of the game well enough today," he said.
"We didn't defend properly and we weren't creative enough in anything we did going forward so we didn't deserve to take anything from the game. I think the performance was some way south of the defeat in midweek.
"It's not panic stations, but it is an acute reminder to the players that if they don't do the basics properly, how they compete, how they defend, how we trust in what we do because we have lost our way a little bit with how we have conceded in the past two games then it is not easy to get results."
The men in green and white have nine days before their next game, a trip to Parkhead to face a wounded Celtic side looking to bounce back from their Old Firm derby reverse at Rangers.
And Ross admits it is a "key moment" for his side, as he challenged them to ensure their season does not "drift away".
He said: "We have a relatively long time before the next game, so physically we need to have a rest because we've had a lot of games recently.
"Mentally, staff as well, it gives everyone a chance, but it's a little bit of a key moment for us this season.
"We have had a couple of them this season that we've had to step back and say where do we want to go?
"This is another one for us, do we want the season to drift or do we want to make sure we achieve what we set out to do? I've got huge faith in the group but I think they know they were a long way short of where they needed to be today.
