Fulham were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with already-relegated Wolves to all but end any faint hope of finishing inside the European spots.
Marco Silva's side have been battling with a host of other clubs in a push to qualify for European competition next year, but that bid has hit the buffers in recent weeks, only collecting five points from their last five outings.
Broadly, it's been another positive campaign under Silva, but he will be bitterly disappointed with the way his side have faded towards the backend, with Fulham now 13th in the table and surely unable to make up the goal difference deficit needed to have a chance of finishing eighth - currently occupied by Brentford.
Some poor finishing ultimately punished the visitors, who wasted plenty of chances to ease ahead against the league's second-most porous defence.
Alex Iwobi and Sander Berge were guilty of spurning the two best; Iwobi at least drew a good save from Jose Sa but Berge's free header from a corner was nodded inexplicably off target.
Mateus Mane then struck a superb opener from nowhere to spare Wolves the ignominy of failing to score in a game for the 20th time this term. Adam Armstrong also hit the woodwork in the second half, with the hosts seizing all the initiative and looking far more like the side with something left to play for.
In total Wolves missed three big chances, which all fell in the final 10 minutes as Fulham chased an improbable winner, their labouring efforts all in vain. Silva, whose future remains uncertain, blamed nerves afterwards but the real issue was quality. Fulham just did not possess enough of it.
After scoring a brilliant goal to break the deadlock, it was Mane's mistake that cost Wolves the chance of a rare victory, as he caught Timothy Castagne in the box and Antonee Robinson rolled home a calm penalty - his first in the Premier League.
VAR had to intervene to award the spot-kick despite on-field referee Thomas Kirk being perfectly positioned to spot the foul. He called the incident a "careless challenge" when announcing the decision to the crowd inside Molineux, but was not prepared to act before he was sent to the pitchside monitor.
Tim Sherwood called it a "nailed-on penalty" on Soccer Special, adding "the referee was looking right at it."
Fulham boss Marco Silva:
"It was a must-win game for us to keep some hopes under our control. If you want hopes for European places, it was a must-win game.
"It was difficult for us to be ruthless and put the ball in the back of the net. Overall, we were in control of the game but they punished us.
"The second half wasn't good enough; we didn't create many chances. It was a very weird second half and for me, it is difficult to find a reason. Nervous, I don't know. Without pressure and giving the ball away.
"We tried but didn't have an impact. It was difficult for us, that is the reason why it was not good enough in the second half. It was a crucial week this week."
Speaking on his future, he added: "I'm going to meet with the board, we are going to analyse, we are going to say some important things which will be crucial to the club's future in the way I want the club to move.
"And after (that), the decision is going to be made.
"It is a moment for the club to address many things; it's one of the most important summers in this football club."
Wolves boss Rob Edwards:
"It was a good response from last week and a better start to the game. We had a foot in it and it was nice to get the first goal.
"The last 10 to 15 minutes of the first half, we maybe stepped back because we were winning the game, which we don't want to do, so we invited a bit too much pressure which led to the penalty.
"But I thought we stepped forward really well again in the second half. We attacked the game well, we were aggressive, we had a lot of high regains and we had chances we weren't able to capitalise on."
