Ian Burchnall was disappointed to see Notts County surrender their unbeaten start to the National League as they were beaten at Altrincham.
The Magpies lost 1-0 at Moss Lane where Marcus Dinanga slid in the winner just before the half-hour mark.
Notts had plenty of possession but struggled for clear-cut chances but should have drawn level when Ruben Rodrigues shot wide from Aaron Nemane's cross.
Notts continued to plug away in the search of an equaliser but couldn't trouble goalkeeper Tony Thompson as they lost their first game this season.
And head coach Burchnall felt their second-half performance, in particular, lacked decisiveness in the final third.
"I actually thought we started the game much better than we did in the previous two weeks," he said.
"We started slow but here we were on the front foot. They got the goal and it kind of pegged us back.
"And in the second half it was very passive, very slow and bitty. We never really got going.
"But we learn a little bit when we lose. Take the play-off games out of it, it was our first defeat since last season.
"We don't want to lose any. It's a disappointing loss but we have a lot of games coming up so we've just got to bounce back quick."
