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Tonbridge boss Steve McKimm didn’t press the panic button after their opening-day defeat at Ebbsfleet.
The Angels were sliced open with alarming regularity in the first half-hour as they shipped four goals in 21 minutes at Stonebridge Road.
But McKimm cut a cool and calm figure, giving credit to the hosts and praising his side for a much-improved second half display.
“I’m not going to throw teacups,” said McKimm. “It was about how we reacted after 4-0, people might think it’s stupid me saying it but we got a draw out of the second half so it’s something to build on. I always take positives out of negatives and that’s a big one for me.
“The front two were ruthless, I have to give them credit, but I’m disappointed we didn’t follow what we were trying to do.
“They’re full-time, they’re fitter - everyone will say they are a fit side, but they’re very fit. They use the ball well, use the pitch well and deserve their win.
“They started like a house on fire, four-nil up in 30 minutes and it looked like a proper hiding coming on. The pleasing thing was we drew the second half.
“I was disappointed we didn’t get to grips with the things we worked on in training. We wanted to work ourselves on the outside because we knew there were gaps and we wanted them to work on the outside to stop them cutting in because I’ve watched them.
“They don’t really cross the ball, our centre-halves haven’t headed a ball away from a cross so it’s about stopping them cutting in. It’s easier said than done but if you over exaggerate it and they have to get past you on the byline they then have to stand a cross up.
“We let them come through, straight through the middle of us and three or four passes they slip the centre-forward in and he scored.”
McKimm was not going to single out any members of his squad and will revisit the game before making his feelings known.
“I’m not going to hang people out to dry,” added the Tonbridge boss. “I will watch the video, dissect it and talk about it rather than rant and rave after the first game.
“My teams need to be brave, they’ve got to want to play as you can’t just kick and rush. I can’t give that to them, they need to do that themselves.
“If you haven’t got the ball you still need to run and that’s the bottom line, I don’t think we did that enough in groups in the first half. I didn’t send them out differently second half to first half.”
