Craig Nelson called on Tonbridge to develop a nasty streak after their winless run extended to seven games.
Angels met Enfield Town in National League South on Tuesday night with both teams looking for their first victory.
But the wait goes on for Nelson’s side after a 2-1 defeat by physical opponents who profited twice from balls in the box.
The hosts were found wanting defensively as Bayley Brown and Sam Youngs struck either side of Eddie Simon’s neat equaliser.
“Defending in our box, we just need to be bigger and braver,” said boss Nelson.
“And if we don't win the first contacts, we need to be around the second ones to be able to keep the ball out the net.
“We've gone over and over this as well, because we've been conceding goals like that in the last couple of games and we felt that the boys were on it.
“But it's just not good enough for a team collective to concede goals or continue to concede goals like that.
“I think sometimes you've got to be a little bit nastier.
“There's dark arts in the game.
“We're not blessed with VAR. They don't need to worry about stuff like that. And you just need to be braver in those moments.
“I think they are all physically well prepared and they're actually good in the air as well.
“I just think they need to be a little bit smarter when we are either competing for the first or being in around the second.
“You don't win things by being nice and it needs to start with a game of football, right?
“So I don't know what we need to be nice for.
“The players are there to defend our goal and part of that is being aggressive.
“And in those moments, we need to be more aggressive than our opponent.
“If we don't win the first one, it's making sure that we're alive for what might come after that,
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