It was a make-or-break weekend for City, and not only did it all go wrong - little has gone right since.
The Blues went into the weekend on the back of 7 straight home defeats, with a European place well within reach and a home draw in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
But Pearce made a host of changes for the Saturday league game with Wigan and the Blues lost 1-0.
That upset the balance and the confidence of the side for Monday's game with West Ham, which the Hammers won 2-1.
And while West Ham have gone on to bigger and better things, it took another 4 league defeats before City rediscovered that winning feeling, at Villa on Tuesday.
"We gave ourselves a fantastic base and a fantastic grounding for having a good season, but have just not finished it off particularly well," Pearce told the official City website.
"If you go back to the Wigan game and the West Ham FA Cup tie, from there on we have been disappointing. That's where we you can maybe see the contrast between us and West Ham.
"We were at a crossroads with them that night. They have taken a path to the FA Cup Final and with that success against us in the Cup taken a bit more confidence into the league that has pushed them up the Premiership.
"We took the other path that put us out of the Cup that night, that knocked some confidence out of us and cost us in the league.
"1 or 2 of the youngsters have learnt a bit and I have learned a good deal about them," added the City boss.
"But I will have a look in the summer and decide how we could have done better. Even if we had finished 10 places further up the league I would still have sat back and thought that I could have done better."