Chris Hughton fired a warning shot to his Nottingham Forest players after they were toppled 2-0 by Huddersfield Town.
The Reds’ four-match unbeaten run came to an end in dismal fashion amid a largely lacklustre performance at the City Ground.
After a bright start, the hosts’ intensity levels dropped and they paid the price for not making the most of their early dominance, with Aaron Rowe and Juninho Bacuna securing three points for the Terriers.
Forest are 16th in the table, 10 points above the bottom three with four games remaining - and Hughton is eager to guard against complacency.
“What the players are aware of is that it’s not acceptable to finish this season on a low,” he said.
“We want to finish the season in the best way possible. That’s what we’ve spoken about in the last few games.
“We are still in a position where mathematically we are not safe. The players are aware of that.
“We’ve got to make sure there is a reaction come Wednesday night, which will be a very difficult game at Birmingham.”
The Reds’ last match on the banks of the Trent had finished with a 3-1 triumph over QPR.
But it was a very different occasion against Huddersfield.
Scoring goals has been an issue which has dogged Forest all term, and they drew a blank again in the lunchtime kick-off.
“It was a hard day. We’re really disappointed, particularly after our last home performance. I was hoping we could replicate that,” Hughton said.
“In the first 20 minutes I thought we did. We had a lot of the ball and dominated.
“We had three good chances in that period.
“Probably the result sums up a little bit of how we’ve been, which is we have found it difficult to get goals.
“We have become a more resolute team and haven’t made too many mistakes recently. But we made two mistakes for the goals, which hasn’t been the case previously.
“We needed to show more to get back in the game, particularly after the second goal. It wasn’t our day today.”
