Five talking points from Cardiff 2 Wolves 1

Matt Doherty had given Paul Lambert's team an early lead but they paid the price for a poor second half performance and succumbed to Anthony Pilkington's late winner.

Lambert admitted his team weren't good enough. But that was little solace to the 657 fans who made the long journey to south Wales.

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five talking points from a miserable evening.

A step backwards

This was undoubtedly the worst performance from Lambert's five games in charge. Indeed the second half display was as bad as Wolves have been this season.

Yes they conceded more goals in the second period against Barnsley and arguably capitulated in a more embarrassing manner in the first halves against Derby and Sheffield Wednesday.

But at least those teams played a bit of football. Cardiff's neanderthal tactics of long throws, crosses and set pieces were painfully basic and yet Wolves just couldn't cope.

They were doing fine in the first half but all the Bluebirds had to do (no doubt on the back of a half time rollocking from Neil Warnock) was move up a gear or two and Wolves crumbled.

In attack things weren't any better. Wolves mustered just four shots and their remarkable strikers' famine was extended to almost four months (no striker has scored since August 20).

Any confidence gained from the four points accrued - and six goals scored - in their previous two games simply evaporated.

And all this despite finally scoring in the first 15 minutes of a match - the last team of 92 in English football to do so this season.

Midfield caves in

As against Fulham on Saturday, the centre half pairing actually stuck to their task manfully while all around them lost the plot.

Danny Batth was superb for the most part, winning an endless succession of headers, before blotting his copybook when misjudging the flight of the ball for the equaliser (although Dominic Iorfa and Harry Burgoyne were far more culpable).

The lack of protection afford to Batth and Richard Stearman was alarming in that second half unravelling and the midfield must take the share of the blame.

Romain Saiss had a desperately disappointing game and failed to handle the physicality of Cardiff's midfield, while David Edwards was ineffective and George Saville, while he won a few tackles, couldn't get a grip on proceedings either.

With Joao Teixeira and Ivan Cavaleiro offering weak resistance and not enough help to the out-of-form Dominic Iorfa and Matt Doherty (from a defensive point of view for the latter, as going forward he's got two goals and one assist in two matches), Cardiff were free to exploit Wolves' vulnerabilities.

Harry Burgoyne endured a difficult evening, too, with a couple of bad kicks perhaps knocking his confidence (the Cardiff fans behind the goal gave him plenty of stick).

But the midfield is where plenty of Wolves' problems lie. A penny for Jack Price's thoughts? Wolves struggled to keep possession and the back four needed protecting - two things Price can excel at.

Connor Ronan is making waves in the under-23s and the technically-gifted Irishman can't be far off being handed his debut.

Both he and Price move the ball effortlessly. While Lambert may be reluctant to throw Ronan into the lion's den, he's gone down the 'engine room' type midfield route and it hasn't worked yet. Time for a change of tack?

Substitutions

Teixeira offered a nothing performance after being sent on at half time. In hindsight, with Wolves spending much of the half on the back foot, Conor Coady would have been a better bet on that right flank as Wolves' 4-3-3 descended into a deep-lying 4-5-1.

And then with Wolves leaning back on the ropes after a 20-minute spell in which Cardiff did everything but score, Lambert sent on Bright Enobakhare after 66 minutes.

The ball wasn't sticking up front and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson for Nouha Dicko was an obvious change, but that didn't come until 76 minutes.

Price and Coady remained on the bench, despite Wolves spending most of the second half defending and unable to stem the tide.

Again, it's very easy to point all this out in hindsight, but Lambert's job is to get these decisions right and on this occasion he got his substitutions wrong.

Crucial few weeks

In one month's time Wolves will have played five more Championship games - Nottingham Forest (a), Bristol City (h), QPR (h), Sheffield Wednesday (a), Aston Villa (h).

On paper the Bristol City and QPR games offer the best chance of points...except Wolves have the worst home record in the Championship.

The point is that come mid-January Lambert needs to be guiding this team towards mid-table. Because if they get sucked into a proper relegation dogfight, it's questionable as to whether they have to players to drag them out of it.

The season is clearly a write-off as far as any top six hopes go. The best Wolves can hope for is a pressure-free few months in mid-table in which Lambert can mould a team for next season.

At this rate though (one win in 12 matches, or five points from Lambert's first five games) they're only heading in one direction.

Positives?

A lot of the positives are in the players who weren't on show here.

Wolves' current injury/unfit list is reaching the lofty levels of 2015/16 (it currently reads; Carl Ikeme, Andy Lonergan, Mike Williamson, Prince Oniangue, Lee Evans, Ola John, Jordan Graham, Michal Zyro and Joe Mason).

Hopes are high that Williamson could make a long-overdue comeback next month, while Oniangue and Mason are probably the next due to return.

Then there's January. It's now only a few weeks away and it's set to be a busy and crucial month - Wolves' squad needs a big trim and it needs quality, proven Championship performers adding to it. That won't be easy. But their hopes for the season may rest on it.

What a tragic assessment that is given £14million was spent last summer.

Surely we can expect a reaction on Saturday at Forest? Backed by 2,000 travelling fans it should be a lively pre-Christmas occasion and judging by the reactions last night the team will be determined to put it right.

The players looked as sombre and as distraught as they have at any point in the past 18 months.

Not as sombre as the fans who were still getting home at 1am having spent their hard-earned cash and travelled 240 miles, mind. They deserve so much better.