Wycombe Wanderers head coach Mike Dodds described his side’s 4-0 home loss to Charlton Athletic as ‘out-of-character’ and ‘embarrassing’.
The Chairboys began the day in second on 84 points, one ahead of Wrexham in third and five ahead of the Addicks, who sit fourth.
However, strikes from Lloyd Jones, Luke Berry, Matt Godden and Karoy Anderson succumbed Wanderers to their heaviest defeat of the season.
It was the first time under Dodds that Wycombe had conceded more than one goal at Adams Park, and it is the first time they have shipped four or more strikes at home in the league since February 2022.
The result now means the Chairboys drop to third after Wrexham won 2-1 away at Blackpool.
However, if Wycombe beat Leyton Orient on Saturday lunchtime, and Charlton defeat the Welsh side on the same day, Wanderers move back into the runners up spot with one game left.
Speaking at full-time, Dodds said: “Today wasn’t acceptable as we gifted them four goals and from our perspective, it’s embarrassing.
“I’m scratching my head as we didn’t do anything different in terms of our processes, and we went into the game full of confidence.
“It was an out-of-character performance and I have to wear that as the leader, as it was no way near the standards of what we require.
“We got what we deserved, and I’m going to do an autopsy of how we have gone from having the best defensive record in the EFL since I’ve been here, as we have prided ourselves on being organised, to gifting Charlton four goals.
“But I will say this, Charlton deserved to win the game as they forced us into errors.
“Two came from set pieces, which we have been outstanding at [defending] all season, and we need to see what happened [against Charlton], and the two in the second half were poor.”
It is the first time the Addicks have done the double over Wycombe since the 2018/19 season.
For Nathan Jones, he described his side’s win as ‘professional’ as the London side continues to hunt down both Wanderers and Wrexham for that second spot.
He said: “I am delighted and proud because it’s some performance to come to the team in second and to do what we did.
“We knew we had to win today, and from moment one, I thought we were very positive.
“The opening 10 minutes or so were a bit frenetic, but when it settled down, we got the first goal, and the second came quickly.
“In the second half, I wanted us to be more aggressive as I felt we had more quality to show.
“We gave the ball away a bit too much in the first half, and I thought we could have put a bit more pressure on them.
“It eventually worked as they made an error [for the third goal] and we went on – we were just outstanding, considering this is a very good team.”
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