Dagenham & Redbridge boss Daryl McMahon says his side have got to play for 90 minutes when they host Bromley in the National League on Bank Holiday Monday.
Daggers fell to a 1-0 defeat at Yeovil on Saturday, as Jamie Reckford netted the only goal at Huish Park.
And that left McMahon's men with just five points from their first five games this season as they prepare to welcome the FA Trophy holders to Victoria Road.
"We've got to play for 90 minutes and show more character, more commitment," McMahon told the club website.
"We've got to show us. If we lose being like us, I can wear it, because that's football.
"You play games sometimes, you play well or showcase what we're about as a football team and you lose, that happens.
"But in that first 45 minutes [at Yeovil] we were nowhere near what we expect ourselves to be as a football team.
"Second half yes we were, but we've got to do it for 90 minutes if we want to be a team to be successful in this division, which I believe we still will, with the players we've got in the changing room.
"We've got to sharpen up now and kick right on."
Mauro Vilhete hit a post, after replacing the injured David Longe-King in the first half, with Nik Tavares slicing the rebound wide.
But Daggers struggled to seriously test Grant Smith in the home goal, with McMahon adding: "You can't win a game of football if you only play for half of it. I thought the first half we were non-existent. The performance levels were way below par.
"In the second half I thought we were very, very good. If we had more quality in the final third we could get a draw or even win the game, the amount of chances we had.
"I've said to the players you can't play for half a match and expect to get anything at this level against anybody. It was more the quality. We haven't worked the goalie enough.
"In terms of passes and crosses when you're in dangerous areas we've made the wrong decisions and that's unlike us. We're a team that's always been free-flowing and scoring goals.
"Did we work the ball into the area enough? We definitely did. But we weren't good enough in that final third."
However, McMahon did have praise for the returning Omar Mussa, who came off the bench to replace Mo Sagaf just past the hour mark.
He said: "I thought he was outstanding. He went on, you ask players to play with personality and courage and I thought he did that.
"He was outstanding in possession of the ball, he took the bull by the horns in terms of driving the team forward.
"I thought he was absolutely terrific and it's great to see Mussa coming back into the team after injury and perform like that."
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