Braintree Town manager Jamie Day admitted that his team’s “sloppy” defending “wasn’t good enough” as they conceded four goals in front of their own fans against Gateshead.

Having kept a clean sheet at Guiseley the previous week, the Iron went down to a 4-1 Vanarama National League defeat on their return to the Ironmongery Direct Stadium.

They had more of an attacking threat than they had had seven days before and Michael Cheek’s 57th minute goal halved the deficit after Gateshead had gone two up with strikes either side of half-time from Reece Styche However, more poor defending allowed the visitors to stretch away in the latter stages and secure a comfortable win.

Day said: “The way we defended in the second half wasn’t good enough.

“We were too open and people were trying to do their own thing.

“So it was disappointing and it’s another home game (after the Torquay defeat) where we’ve been beaten by more than two goals.

“I felt it was OK at half-time.

“We had caused them problems from set plays, we tested the keeper, we got crosses into the box, but if you don’t score the first goal at this – or any – level then you end up chasing games.

“We then didn’t defend well enough when conceding the other goals.

“If you don’t defend properly in the box and aren’t aggressive enough in your defending against attackers who want to score goals then you are going to concede and that’s what we did.

“All the goals on our part were sloppy and it wasn't good enough.

“I’m getting fed up with getting beaten every week and losing games.

“We work tirelessly on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to go through stuff with our shape, what’s expected and how we want to play.

“Then we concede and are behind and players seem to want to do what they want.

“I need to look at that because we are spending an awful lot of time coaching these players and some of them are not doing enough.

“There aren’t many who have guaranteed themselves a position at Sutton on Tuesday night.

“I could throw any names on the floor and they could be in the team because people aren’t performing well enough.

“That’s not good enough and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in.

“It’s difficult because I want to give people an opportunity but if people aren’t taking those chances and we’re playing like we are then I need to change.

“However, we can’t have 40 or 50 players going through the course of the season because a new player comes in and needs four or five games to get used to the system and how we play.

“Then we’re 20 games in and we could be on six points.

“It’s stuff that needs to be addressed but it’s difficult to address it when people aren’t taking on board what is being said.”