Braintree Town manager Hakan Hayrettin said his team paid the price for a poor defensive display in the first half of their Boxing Day defeat at Ebbsfleet United.

The Iron boss felt his team was “nowhere near” the level of performance they had in their previous Vanarama National League outing against Boreham Wood on Saturday - when they drew 1-1 - as they were beaten 4-2.

They found themselves 3-1 behind at break as goals at the start and end of the half proved costly.

Although Callum Morton pulled the deficit back to one just after the restart, the damage had already been done as the Fleet were able to consolidate their lead with a fourth goal on 63 minutes.

Hayrettin told BBC Essex: “We did not play well in the first half; they were better than us and that’s the truth of it.

“We didn’t defend well and we paid the price.

“The second half performance was better but it was too late by then.

“You can’t concede goals like we did and expect to get back in the game.

“It’s not good enough defending personally.

“I changed the system three times to try to get back in the game, so that’s added pressure but we can’t defend like that and expect to win.”

He added: “Historically, if you look, it’s the first ten minutes of the first half or first 15 minutes of the second half that teams have been scoring (against us).

“We’re then fighting to get back in the game.

“The defending in the first half (at Ebbsfleet) and the performance or certain players just wasn’t good enough in the first half – nowhere near it.

“If you look at Saturday (against Boreham Wood) and how well we played then, it was completely different to the first half at Ebbsfleet.

“So what do you do as a manager?

“You try to pinpoint things.

“We gave it a go in the second half and should have got something out of it.

“We had a couple of goalmouth scrambles when we should have scored but we paid the price for the first half.”

The defeat left the Iron nine points away from safety at the foot of the table, but they will have to regroup quickly ahead of a trip to fellow strugglers Maidenhead United on Saturday.

“We know our limitations with the club’s resources but there is a long way to go and we have to keep on fighting,” said Hayrettin.

“That’s all we can do.

“We need to have a look at ourselves and eradicate things because the defending certainly wasn’t good enough in that first half."