Nottingham Forest’s opening 13 minutes were the stuff of nightmares against Norwich City - and they certainly caused a sleepless night for manager Chris Hughton.
The Reds boss re-watched Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat at 5am this morning, unable to put his side’s performance to bed.
And it wasn’t much better viewing the second time around.
The hosts were comfortably beaten by the Championship leaders, with Hughton admitting the Canaries and Saturday’s opponents Brentford have set the bar for others to follow.
“It was certainly no better,” Hughton said of his sunrise study of the Norwich match.
“Sometimes you can see the game back again and think, ‘We probably played a bit better than I thought.’ That probably happens more than most.
“But that wouldn’t have been the case this time.
“What I saw this morning, having watched the game again, was probably what I thought at the time - we didn’t do well enough in that first half to stop a wonderful team in their stride.
“And when we needed to be better on the ball, when they pressed really well with high energy, we needed to make better use of the ball.”
Forest have spent this season battling at the wrong end of the table.
Ahead of their trip to face the Bees they are 18th, with a nine-point cushion above the bottom three.
The aim next term will be to get back to challenging for a top six spot - something which will require a fair bit of work in the transfer market this summer.
Hughton said: “You do think about that; you do think, ‘what do we have to do to be at that level?’.
“If you look at Norwich or Brentford, what you have got are teams who have been together for a good period of time.
“Norwich have probably been together for some three or four seasons, as have Brentford.
“They are teams who have been together for a long time. That’s not coincidence.
“Norwich had the season in the Premier League which was difficult for them, but generally they have been able to sustain those levels.
“It’s always one we are continuing to look to improve.”
Before then, the priority is on securing survival.
The Reds have not won in their last five outings, and face another tough test against the team sat in fourth place.
“It is hard to switch off from it, particularly because it was a high profile game, playing against the best team in the league,” Hughton said of Wednesday night.
“It’s not easy to put it behind you, because you are still thinking about the things we could do better - and also because I have a team to pick for a game in two days’ time.
“That reflection on last night can sometimes have an influence on the next team I pick.
“It is finding that balance.
“What I always try to do - as regards how I am with the players - is put that behind me. Any player I might not have been so happy with, as regards a performance, that is firmly parked away.
“Every player reacts differently.
“There are players who will have gone home and slept okay last night, and there will be some players who didn’t sleep so well.
“Either way, it doesn’t mean that player doesn’t care any less, it’s just their personality.
“The players have played enough games in this division to know the next one is coming around quickly, and they have to start thinking about the next game.”
Tossing and turning at night surely comes with the territory of football management.
But with such a quick turnaround between games this week, for Hughton there isn’t too much time to dwell.
“We’ll spend time with the coaches in the changing room after a game. Generally, none of us are in a rush to get away and it’s good to talk through the game,” he said.
“We’ll end up watching it back individually.
“Sometimes I’ll go home and watch the game again at night. That wasn’t the case last night.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to sleep when it’s still swirling around in your head.
“Generally, I’m not a bad sleeper.
“But I can tell you, I watched the game about 5 o’clock this morning.
“Sometimes it’s different. Sometimes I’ll go through it at night and assess it, but not this time.”
