WE were diabolical in the first half, brilliant in the second then failed to defend a set-play for the last goal.

That ruined a magnificent comeback and cost us what would have been a fantastic point from a game that looked well beyond us at half time. The lad scored a good goal but it shouldn't have got to that.

The half-time discussion was about passion and commitment, all the words we used before the game ... about how you approach a local derby against a team that hadn't won a game at home in the league. We told them if we didn't match their battling qualities, they'd get on top of us.

When they came in at half time we had to reorganise. I told them to stop being what they'd been in the first half and that was Fancy Dans. This was not the place for that.

It's a cruel blow to come away with nothing after we'd done so well to get back into the game - and deservedly so! We didn't deserve to lose the game but we'd conceded some bad goals.

The first one, the goalie gave away; the second, we just didn't defend how we should; the third came because two experienced players tried to play an offside when they shouldn't have done and the fourth was a free kick which we allowed to come into our box.

There was no underestimation of Stockport by me or my staff, because I'd never won there either as a player or a manager. But there might have been a certain underestimation by the players. I think the lads in the dressing room might have been thinking it would be a bit easier than it was. No disrespect to Stockport but we do tend to ease off when we come up against teams like them.

They unfortunately gave it the "Big Time Charlie" attitude and got their backsides slapped.

But we scored three goals away from home in the second half. We dominated the opposition and they were going on the back foot more and more. We never gave up and we might have got the fourth goal. Unfortunately for us they got it.

But the most disappointing aspect of losing our unbeaten away record was the way we performed in the first half. We didn't look as though we'd won away from home all season.

At least I got a reaction from them and some commitment. We came back when the chips were down and scored some quality goals. But I don't know how much that last goal has done to them mentally because it was a cruel blow.

It's ironic that the squad is getting bigger, better and stronger than when we started the season and all of a sudden we're starting to throw stupid points away. It didn't just happen on Saturday, it happened at Gillingham, it happened against Blackburn and it happened against Forest because we had enough chances to win the game. Now we've slipped behind our points schedule, while everybody else is going well. And that makes a difference.