Michael Duff admitted an "eight-minute spell of madness" cost Wycombe Wanderers victory after they threw away a two-goal lead in a dramatic 3-3 draw with MK Dons.
The Chairboys looked on course for their first win of the campaign after first-half goals from Dan Casey and Ewan Henderson put them firmly in control at Adams Park.
But three strike in eight second-half minutes from Aaron Collins, Calum Paterson and Curtis Nelson turned the game on its head before Jayden Wareham rescued a point on his debut with 17 minutes left.
Duff was left frustrated not by the result alone, but by what he felt was a complete departure from the game plan immediately after half-time.
"I thought we were in control in the first half and the game looked exactly how we wanted it to look," he said.
"We played some really good football. We hurt them short, we hurt them long and we scored two goals.
"At half-time we showed them three clips of us passing the ball and the message was to keep doing it.
"We came out after the break and didn't pass the ball once for eight minutes.
"Then suddenly it's 3-2."
While Duff credited Collins for his stunning strike that sparked MK's comeback, he felt his side allowed panic to creep into their game.
His goal was a thunderbolt from outside the box which crashes against the crossbar.
He said:"The first goal is a brilliant strike and you have to give them credit for that.
"But then we went into panic mode and survival mode.
"You've got to reset and say, 'the opposition have scored a good goal, let's carry on doing what we're doing'.
"We didn't do that.
"We almost came out for the second half hoping to win the game rather than going out and winning it."
He believes Wanderers' difficult start to the campaign may have played a role in the mentality of his players, who are now seven matches without a win in all competitions.
"The players aren't daft. They know we haven't won a game.
"You go 2-0 up and almost start hoping you'll get through the half and win 2-0.
"Football doesn't work like that. Nobody gives you a win."
Despite the disappointment, the Wycombe boss was keen to stress that effort was not the issue.
He praised his players for continuing to fight after falling behind and highlighted the support they received from the home crowd at full-time.
"The supporters clapped them off and I think they could see the players were still giving everything.
"It's not a case of people jogging around or not trying.
"They're desperate to win.
"The problem is that little mentality of hoping to win rather than trusting the process and doing the things that got us in front in the first place."
Duff believes Monday's analysis session will be straightforward.
"The difference between the best bits of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half is obvious.
"When we trust what we're doing, we look a decent team.
"The frustrating thing is that we did enough to win the game and shot ourselves in the foot."
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