THE defeat to Brighton was one we just could not afford and now the mountain we already had to climb to get into the play-offs has become Kilimanjaro.

And, given how far we’re off the top six, it now looks like all our eggs are in the one basket, namely the FA Cup quarter-final replay with Liverpool.

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You just cannot afford to be getting beaten by teams like Brighton at home if you have aspirations of getting promoted.

The result, let alone the performance, was just so disappointing.

But, you know what, it probably just shows where are, as a team, in the Championship.

We’re a nearly side, one who is there or thereabouts, a top-10 side.

But the problem of being a top-10 side is that only two teams get automatically promoted and only four get into the play-offs.

At the moment we’re languishing at the bottom of those top-10 sides because we’re just too inconsistent, too up and down.

In many ways we’re a supporters’ nightmare because one minute we’re up, we’re happy and we’re celebrating, and the next minute we’re down, we’re sad and we’re drowning our sorrows.

You just don’t know whether you are coming or going and that’s frustrating because I still think it’s a squad that could get us up there.

Going into December everything was looking rosy, we were in the top six and well placed.

But then our form nosedived and ever since we’ve been trying to get it back.

We looked like we had got it back when we put those three straight wins together but now the inconsistency has crept back in again.

We’ve just got to look to get back to winning ways at Leeds on Saturday week.

Hopefully Josh King will be back for that game as it would give him a chance to prove his fitness for Liverpool.

We’ve really missed him because there is next to no pace in the team without him.

When he’s been on his game, like in the FA Cup, it’s been clear what a difference he can make.

Having pace up front allows you to clear your decks by playing long balls over the top for a fast striker to chase.

Josh played that role magnificently well in the two games against Swansea and Stoke.

It came as a blow, then, when he suffered his hamstring breakdown and now we don’t know whether he’ll come back flying like he was before.

The Liverpool match is looking like our season now but even if the play-offs are gone, we have to finish on a high in the league.

If not fans will start thinking, ‘is it worth our while coming back?’ That’s not what you want, you want to give something to come back for.