"We were off it in the first-half," admits Town boss Lakeland after home defeat to Gateshead

The visitors led 1-0 at the break and doubled that lead shortly after half-time before Angelo Cappello got one back for Town.

"I thought we were poor in the first-half, just couldn't really get our passing game going," Lakeland told the Courier.

"They pressed us really aggressively to be fair to them, and even though we found ways to play through them or round them, I thought our quality at times, we were loose in our play.

"Our decision-making, particularly when we got in the final third, we just made bad choices of when to cross, when not to cross, when to be aggressive and when to come out.

"I just thought we were off it in the first-half and they were certainly the better team in the first-half, but I don't really recall Sam having anything to do.

"They''ve scored the goal, which is frustrating from my perspective because it's second phase from a restart and we spoke and looked at probably half-a-dozen examples in the meeting before the game of them loading up on the right-hand side, standing up crosses to the back post for Mark Beck and lo and behold, exactly what we told the lads would happen, happened.

"So a frustrating first-half for us."

On why The Shaymen were off it so much in the first-half, Lakeland said: "They put more legs in the team at the top end of the pitch, they played Chadwick through the middle instead of off the side.

"I think that was inentional, to get a bit more pressure on us.

"But I just felt the quality wasn't quite there, decision-making wasn't quite there.

"I think us conceding so early rocked us a bit if I'm being honest, we're obviously then chasing the game and we started forcing things, making poor choices.

"We probably showed a little bit of naivety at times, ill discipline at times, when maybe things weren't going our way, giving away silly fouls, which just gives them an opportunity to kill the game and slow it down, which they did very, very well all game, and the referee didn't do anything about it.

"We injected a bit of energy in the second-half with nine of the same players starting that half, but whether there was a bit of complacency, I don't know.

"We tried our best before the game to let the players know how difficult this game was going to be, because they probably should have taken a result out of each of the games since the new manager came in and they've been on the wrong end of some very tight games.

"Law of averages says at some point they're going to win one - we needed to start well, we probably needed to score first and they've started better and scored first, and gone on to win the game."

The Shaymen gave themselves a mountain to climb when they went 2-0 down, but couldn't get back on level terms.

"It's been a while since we've had to do that at home," Lakeland said.

"It's just madness really, you make the changes at half-time and you get into the lads a bit, and to go and give them a penalty like that within a couple of minutes, it's just naive.

"It's not like Jevon either, he's a good defender, particularly in one v one situations and it's just a really poor choice, just lazy defending, in that instance.

"Against a team fighting for their lives, you can't give them a head start, let alone a 2-0 one, and then you have got a mountain to climb.

"As we have seen numerous times, all season from these lads, they'll always try and climb it, but you can't always get to the top.

"We scored with Angelo - pleased for him to get his first goal this season - and there was so much time left, I felt if we could nick another one, we could even go on and win it.

"And we were completely dominant in that second-half but we missed chances but there was some good defending, there were some good saves, there was some really, really poor officiating, in terms of lack of game management, missing of clear penalties and all those things combined resulted in us not managing to get anything out of the game."

The Town boss felt his side should have been awarded two second-half penalties by referee Dale Baines.

"We've had two penalties given against Adam Adetoro in recent weeks, away from home, one at Brackley for handball, one at Eastleigh for handball," Lakeland said.

"It's hit the lad's hand, if it doesn't hit it, it's going in and then the pull, it's clear as day and he's in a good position from what I remember, looking right at it.

"I just felt there was a general lack of will to give us much at all, there were things all game and that's as poor a refereeing performance as I've seen this season.

"I like to think I'm always pretty fair, I know it's a difficult job, but if that's what we're getting at this level, I worry for where the game's at."

Striker Billy Waters made his third debut for the club in the second-half after re-joining Town on loan from Oldham.

"He's somebody we considered early on in the season but the stars didn't quite align at that time, and he ended up going to Altrincham, and disappointingly for him, got the injury," Lakeland said.

"But since we lost Owen Devonport, we've been weighing up different options for what route to go down in terms of a striker, and we've got away with it a bit because Will Harris has been absolutely flying.

"I didn't really want us to go down the route of inexperience and a young player because we're entering a massively important part of the season.

"I asked the chairman about the possibility of getting it done and I think he deserves great credit for allowing us to bring the likes of him and Kieron in.

"When you're bringing lads in who haven't been playing so much, you've got to allow them that little bit of time to get up to speed and I think that's still evident in Kieron's play.

"Billy hasn't played loads of minutes this season but I see that as a positive because he's naturally a fit lad, he's a hard worker and he's hungry and he's fresh.

"It just gives us the option now of putting somebody up there with Will, or if Will's running on empty, you've got an option to freshen it up like we did so well in the first-half of the season with Owen.

"He gives us that experience, thatr know-how, he's experienced at the level, he knows what the club's all about, he's popular here, he's a character, he's a positive guy and hopefully he can contribute well for us."