'I don't know whether it is a mental thing' - John Pemberton says Chesterfield 'paid the price' for sluggish start to second half in Maidenhead United defeat

In an open first half, Scott Boden scored his first goal of the season after half an hour with a clinical first-time finish.

But Town made a lacklustre start after the break and Maidenhead equalised when Sam Barratt’s cross evaded everyone and nestled in the far corner, before the league’s top scorer grabbed his second of the game and ninth of the season with 20 minutes to go when he glanced in a header at the near post from a corner.

On the sluggish start to the second half, Pemberton said: “All of a sudden we stopped getting on the ball and we looked a yard slow for 15-20 minutes. It is almost like we are waiting to go behind before we get going again. I don’t know whether it is a mental thing.

“I have been involved with this team now for a while and I could sit in the dressing room and say the same things over and over again.

"I am sure previous managers have said the same thing. In the moments when we are under pressure and we know what is coming we have got to see it out and we have got to be consistent in doing it. We knew what was coming for 15 minutes and we could not weather the storm and we have paid the price again.”

It is now five defeats out of seven for Chesterfield with the Spireites once again hovering over the relegation zone.

Pemberton said: “There is only one thing that happens when a team is getting beat, and it gets aimed at me. I understand that and I am alright with it, I can deal with it. “

On the overall performance, the Blues boss added: “I thought we started off well, I thought the first half we were okay, we were good.

“The first goal is a joke, it is a poor goal, it trickles in the far corner, and the second we goal we lose a man from a corner.

"It is disappointing thing because we have had chances and we have got to be a bit more ruthless.”