Southampton were disappointing as they lost their final home game of the regular season on Saturday.
The Saints welcomed a Stoke City side who maintained a small danger of relegation coming into the game, but the 1-0 win for the Potters ensured another season of Championship football.
For Russell Martin and Southampton it was an opportunity to stop the rot following a a defeat at Cardiff City last weekend and a 5-0 romping from Leicester City on Tuesday.
It was one they did not take, though, with a flat performance reflecting a season that is threatening too fizzle out ahead of the play-offs.
Southampton travel to Leeds United for the final game of the season, with their opponents hopeful that they will still have a chance of automatic promotion going into that game.
For Southampton, it feels important that they end the campaign with a positive performance to head into the play-offs on the back of.
This leaves Martin with a decision to make.
Does he play his best side and try and find form or does he rest key players and give the fringe players minutes?
Sekou Mara fails to take chance against Stoke
Against Stoke, Martin opted for the latter.
The likes of Che Adams, Jan Bednarek, Adam Armstrong and Flynn Downes all started on the bench, with peripheral players such as Shea Charles, Samuel Edozie and Sekou Mara playing instead.
Whilst this may have been partly a reaction to such a humiliating defeat in midweek, it was also a clear ploy to rotate the side and give vital players a rest.
Edozie was impressive in the defeat but his taking of his opportunity to start was the anomaly rather than the rule for the players who came in.
Few covered themselves in glory with their showing in the defeat, but unfortunately Mara was particularly poor as he replaced Adams up front.
The youngster was fresh off the back of a three match ban for an off the ball incident against Watford and was handed just his fourth Championship start of the season against Stoke.
It was a dismal display from the 21-year-old, though.
According to Sofascore, Mara managed only 19 touches in the 63 minutes he was on the pitch and completed just five passes in that time, with a pass completion rate of 63%.
The French striker lost possession six times and had two efforts at goal.
With the first he was unlucky, as he beat Stoke goalkeeper Daniel Iversen to a bouncing ball to head towards goal; the lack of pace on the header allowing a Stoke City to recover before crossing the line.
The second attempt was a wild left-footed strike that he got all wrong following a decent break, his lack of composure perhaps a result of low confidence.
Does Mara have a Southampton future?
Whilst the immediate focus is on the end of this season and the play-off push, this poor display does raise questions over Mara’s future.
Since joining Southampton for £11 million in summer 2022, Mara has flattered to deceive on numerous occasions.
The former Bordeaux man is clearly very talented but has struggled to show this on a regular basis since arriving in England.
Whilst his age must be taken into consideration, there is an argument that Southampton should be starting to see a return on their investment as his second season at the club draws to a close.
The marksman has scored six goals in all competitions this season and provided two assists according to Transfermarkt.
A string of bright cameos off the bench during the festive period led to many thinking he had turned the corner in terms of delivering reliable performances off the bench.
The problem is that he has struggled when starting games and his impact has wained off the bench as the season has gone on as well.
Mara has been linked with various loan moves over the past year and Martin and the club will have to weigh up whether he should be given another season to prove himself at the St Mary’s club or look for a suitor elsewhere.
On the showing against Stoke, they may be minded to opt for the latter.