NEW Braintree Town manager Danny Searle was pragmatic about mistakes that led to his team’s Vanarama National League 2-1 defeat at Hartlepool United.

However, the new man at the Iron helm was left disappointed with how his players responded to falling behind after they had surrendered a half-time lead in the north-east.

A 40th minute strike from Justin Amaluzor had put Braintree ahead in their first game since the departure of former boss Hakan Hayrettin and the appointment of Searle as the team’s new manager.

It gave them the lead at half-time, but two goals in the 15 minutes after the break put Hartlepool in the driving seat and Searle was frustrated that his team were unable to wrestle back the advantage.

He told BBC Essex: “The message in the dressing room after the game was that mistakes will be made because they are human beings and people make mistakes.

“We played some good football and created some good chances but my disappointment was the reaction.

“In training and matches, my message is the same – I don’t mind mistakes.

“You obviously don’t want them but it is how you react to it that is important.

“We lost our heads with things like jumping under the ball and mistiming clearances and that was probably the biggest disappointment for me.”

While mistakes in the second half proved costly for Braintree, though, Searle was pleased with how his team performed in his first 45 minutes in charge after stepping up from his role as assistant manager.

He added: “I thought we were deservedly ahead at half-time and I didn’t think they caused us many problems in the first 45 minutes.

“We created some good chances with one coming back off the past, a header that went just over the bar from a free-kick and it was a great finish for the goal.

“I thought we were worthy of it and I was disappointed that it wasn’t two to be honest.

“But we needed to kill the game after half-time and the message was quite clear at half-time.

“The basic fundamentals of football are don’t give the ball away in dangerous areas and we gave the ball away in a really dangerous area.

“You can’t give the ball away where we did and that led to the goal.

“I was a bit disappointed for the penalty as I felt we should have had one at the other end if that was given because there was just as much contact on Callum there as there was at our end.

“Obviously the referee didn’t give it but it was three or four mistakes in a row before Kodi’s back pass, which was carnage.

“I believe it was Rob (Atkinson) who gave the penalty away; the keeper came out and he’s knocked it round him and I believe the referee has given it on the shove from Rob on the player running in to score.

“At this level, you can’t make mistakes like that and get away with it.

“Their forward was a handful all game, probably one of the toughest we have come up against, but you can’t make mistakes like that and expect to get away with it.”