Peterborough United's awesome forward players delivered a big reality check to automatic promotion chasers Plymouth Argyle

The second-placed Pilgrims were crushed 5-2 by Posh to see their lead over third-placed Ipswich Town trimmed to five points.

Schumacher made a double substitution as early as the 33rd minute after Posh had threated to run amok in the first-half.

"It's a reality check,” Schumacher told the Plymouth Evening Herald. “If we don't do the basics properly or if we don't start games in the right manner or if we don't try and get on second balls or pass the ball well enough and we don't defend one-v-one well enough then we will get punished.

"We allowed Peterborough to go two goals up from poor play all round and I had to make two changes pretty quickly. If we didn't do that the game would probably have got away from us and it could have been three or four before half-time.

"I got an immediate reaction, which was brilliant, and we are back in the game at 2-1.

"I felt at half-time there was going to be more chances, definitely for us, but probably for them as well the way the game was. It was an open type of game.

"We just needed to try and defend better and then take one of the chances that we were going to create in the second half to get us back into it.

"But again, we conceded another poor goal and gave ourselves a mountain to climb. I just felt as though we caused our own problems today.

"When you do that against a Peterborough team who have got really good forward players then you are going to struggle.

“We knew it was going to be open. We know that Peterborough leave their front four at the top end of the pitch and allow you to attack them.

"There were big spaces on the pitch and I just felt if we could have looked after the ball and created a couple more chances we would have been in it, but to do it you had to defend well and we didn't as a team so we got beaten, deservedly.”