Paul Cook blames 'soft goals' for Chesterfield's defeat to Dagenham and Redbridge

The Spireites conceded three times in the first 45 minutes to give themselves a mountain to climb.

Branden Horton pulled one back early after the break but the second from Tyrone Williams did not arrive until deep into injury-time.

The defeat leaves Town in third and three points off the top.

"We are giving soft goals away and when you give soft goals away you will struggle to win football matches” Cook said.

"I am not going to criticise defensive fragility, it is not correct, we win as a team and we lose as a team.

"I certainly don’t turn on players, I never have done and I never will do.

"We will keep our in-house problems in-house, and we will work harder to make them better.

"I think everyone can see we have got certain qualities in the team but unfortunately the last two games have highlighted some of the goals we concede.

"With the greatest respect to Maidenhead and Dagenham, we don’t come under pressure in games, we are just really susceptible at switching off and making some really poor decisions in possession further up the pitch.”

Cook praised his team’s character in the second-half but acknowledged they gave themselves too much to do.

He explained: "They are a good set of lads who work hard, there is no one in there who is hard to manage, but tonight we have made some really naive mistakes.

"It was a spirited fightback which you expect, I am just disappointed we did not get the second goal with a bit longer left.

"Last week when we left Maidstone it was the best start in the club’s history, but nowadays a week in football is a long time. We have really disappointed our supporters and we have disappointed ourselves.

"But it is a long race, we are three points off the top of the league now, we have lost two in 12, and the world is about to end. I am experienced enough to know that we get back on the horse again.

"I got the reaction out of my players in the second-half, I thought our players were terrific, we scored two goals, but we can’t be three goals down to win games.”

Frustrations grew towards referee Matt Corlett as the game went on, especially with amount small amount of added time given all the substitutions and stoppages in play.

Cook added: "I thought the referee had a good game but I am really disappointed with the time added-on. I have been in to see him and the assessor totally agreed with me. The referees have got to make sure that when the stoppage time comes up, if teams have had injured players, substitutions, goals, that we get the correct proper time. The four minutes was a joke.”