Conor Hourihane admitted Barnsley’s ‘humbling’ 4-0 loss at leaders Cardiff City was his toughest game as head coach.

The Reds conceded sloppy goals as they were outclassed.

Hourihane told the Chronicle: “I think this was the toughest game.

“Call me crazy, but for some reason I felt we could put on a really good performance.

“We were in a decent moment and coming into the game in a decent place.

“They had a couple of players missing that would definitely start for them.

“And I thought: are we playing these at a good time?“It just wasn't quite to be the case and it ended up being a difficult night for sure.”

He added: “Really frustrating. Awful goals. Really, really poor goals. The timings of the goals were really poor as well.

“Two minutes in, just before half-time as well.

“You go in there 1-0 down and you re-group at half-time.

“All in all, a bit of a humbling night for everyone.”

Davis Keillor-Dunn said: “From the dressing room, the players, the staff, we just apologise to the fans.

“That's a long trip to come down to Cardiff on a Tuesday night and to get beaten the way we did.”

Does the result make Hourihane reassess how many players Barnsley need in the transfer window?

“It can't help but cross your mind.

“We need to know where we are.

“We definitely need an attacking player because, look, if Didzy (David McGoldrick) or Davo got injured, you know, you're bringing Leo Farrell on and Faz has got a bright future in the game, but is he up to this level right now? Probably not.

“We're in desperate need of a couple of bodies to make us that little bit stronger.”

Luca Connell came back from suspension and was at fault for three goals.

“He’s been out a few games and found it difficult. We’ve all had difficult nights at times. It will be someone else in a couple of weeks and someone else in a month’s time. You always get challenges in football and life and it’s up to him to come through it stronger.”

David McGoldrick missed the game with a knock from the last game and Hourihane said he could return on Saturday.

Reyes Cleary came off after half an hour with a calf problem.

“I felt like from the first minute he didn't look right.

“He didn't report anything to us to say that he was injured. But for the first goal, he should be sprinting back there and helping out the defence two v one.

“But he just didn't quite get out, get into a sprint and then obviously, 15, ten minutes later, he's been taken off.

“So I wonder, did he come into the game with something that didn't quite get himself going?”

Barnsley started with Jack Shepherd at left-back and a big gap to Cleary on the left of attack.

“We tried to change it up, create pressures and not get pinned back. We gave away the ball a lot.

“Reyes came off and we went back to Nate to shore it up and people went back to their familiar positions.”

Hourihane admitted there was a gulf in class.

“I think we need to realise the good players that they have.

“We've got good players as well, but, in terms of where we are in the level and where we are in the league and what they're bringing to the table compared to us, we're at two completely different scales.

“I think over the last four or five games, we've not played great, but we're just grinding out results.

“And I think tonight showed that we probably aren't playing great at the minute, and we just took a little bit of a battering in terms of the scoreline.

“We need to get back to playing better football.

“I think we did that probably eight, nine, ten games ago but at the minute I think you can look at Wigan, got a point but didn't play great, Blackpool got a late winner but didn't play great, Reading the same.

“And I think tonight it's just caught up with us a little bit against a very, very good side.

“They've got players who have played in the Premier League and Championship for many years and, minimum, when you're coming up against a team like Cardiff, physically, you've got to be able to match them.“And it was difficult for our lads tonight.”

Alex Robertson could have been given a second yellow in the first half for pulling back Adam Phillips. Hourihane spoke to referee Lee Swabey straight afterwards.

“He just said that he felt like it was a big distance away from the opposition goal.

“But my argument to him was it was obviously a blatant foul to stop a decent transition moment.

“And they had six or seven bodies in the box so they obviously only had three or four behind the ball.

“I felt that was a big, big moment because, you know, down to ten men , 1-0 down, the tide turns completely.

“The second one could have been given, hence why they made a substitution at w because I knew they were probably lucky.”

Barnsley also felt Corey O’Keeffe was fouled in the box early in the second half. “A moment again went against us."I think when you get across someone like that, you've got kind of every right to get across in or finish. The opposition player goes into a little bit of a panic mode and can't touch him.

“And we felt like there was contact and Corey went down.

“The two big decisions obviously didn't go for us to try to change the tide in the game but a far superior team beat us tonight as well.”