Dave Jones felt hard done by as his Wednesday side went down 3-1 to newly placed league leaders Middlesbrough at The Riverside Stadium on Friday night.
A Gary Madine strike early in the second half cancelled out Justin Hoyte’s opener for the home side and from that juncture, the Owls seemed favourites to go on and win.
But defensive errors allowed Ishmael Miller and Lukas Jutkiewicz to seal the points for Boro and Jones voiced his frustrations after the contest.
He said: “I feel hard done by because after we equalised, we were in control of the game. They had gone.
“The crowd was getting frustrated and everything else and we looked in a good position to get three points.
“But we’ve gone and let them right back into it with errors at the back that continue to cost us.
“And until we cut the mistakes out, we will get punished because that’s what happens at this level.
“You have to put your foot through it but we passed the ball right back to them and they have scored.
“I’m frustrated, the players are frustrated. But this division is relentless. We have just played three games in three days – when does that happen in the Premiership?
“This is the hardest division to get out of and we have to stop making mistakes because 16 games in, the message should have sunk in.”
Despite his frustrations, Jones is confident the Owls have the quality to haul themselves clear of any imminent danger at the wrong end of the Championship.
He added: “Listen, we have a lot of quality at this football club. We have a lot of good players.
“We’ve just played a side on top of the league and we’ve matched them for most of the game.
“You wouldn’t know which side was which through most of that game and they have a good squad with good players.
“But we’ll be OK. There is a lot of optimism at the football club, there is still a feelgood factor around the place.
“We are optimistic and while there is optimism there is hope.”