Cardiff City manager Russell Slade still believes he can plot a route into the Championship play-offs despite his team’s shattering defeat to Brentford.

The Bluebirds crashed 2-1 at Griffin Park on Tuesday night, leaving them six points behind their rivals for sixth-place, Sheffield Wednesday, but with only three matches left.

It would have been far worse for Cardiff – and virtually the end of their Premier League ambitions – if Wednesday had not been held to a draw, 0-0, at home to doomed MK Dons.

Slade admitted: “It’s one that has got away from us. It’s disappointing but we have to recover.

“We have to go and get three points and then try to put Sheffield Wednesday under a bit of pressure before our visit there in a couple of weeks.

“The only thing that was missing in the first period from us was a goal. In the second period I thought we lost a little bit of control, the game got a little bit open and they looked a bit of a threat on the counter-attack.

“The really disappointing thing was the two Brentford goals. The one from the corner was not like us and the second one, two or three little errors have led to them getting a 2-0 advantage.”

That match at Hillsborough on April 30 remains the key to any small hopes Slade has of overtaking Wednesday for the last remaining play-off place.

Not only do Cardiff have a six-point gap to make up, but they also have a markedly inferior goal difference to their rivals – a 12-goal chasm which they are highly unlikely to bridge.

But the fixtures do still offer crumbs of comfort to Cardiff fans who are looking for reasons to believe.

This Saturday, Cardiff host already relegated Bolton Wanderers, comfortably the worst team in the division.

At the same time, Wednesday have a tough-looking away fixture at Derby County who are themselves in a play-off place one spot and six points above the Yorkshire club.

If Cardiff win and Wednesday lose, then the gap would be down to three points by the time the two clubs meet.

Were Cardiff to beat Wednesday, then the clubs would be level on points going into the final fixtures of the regular season – with Wednesday still likely to be ahead on goal difference.

But Cardiff finish with a home game against Birmingham City, whilst Wednesday are away to Wolves.