Matt Taylor questioned the mentality of his players after Wealdstone threw a two-goal lead away at Ebbsfleet United to draw 2-2 late on at the Kuflink Stadium on Saturday.

The Stones put themselves in a commanding position midway through the second half thanks to goals from Sam Ashford and recent addition Alex Reid but collapsed with minutes to go as the home side snatched a draw at the death with two late strikes.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a good performance because we throw away a two-goal lead, which is ridiculous,” Taylor told the club’s media.

“We soaked up any pressure they had. They didn’t really have any pressure, but you ask the players on the pitch to take their roles and responsibilities, and when you look at the manner in which we concede the first goal, it’s inexcusable in terms of the error.

“What we can’t do is we can’t give teams momentum. Up to that point, I think it was 86 or 87 minutes, there’s no threat on our goal whatsoever. In making the error we did, it gives the opportunity for the opposition to gain momentum and think they’ve got a chance when, well and truly, we should be out of sight.

“There’s a pattern emerging I don’t like. That pattern is quite clear to see. We’re in winning positions in games, and whether or not the players are mentally strong enough to see out games, I don’t know.

"It’ll be a conversation we have during the week. You can’t play as well as we did for 86, 87 minutes and draw a game 2-2 away from home. That should be a 2-0 win to us.”

Former Arsenal Academy graduate Craig Eastmond and centre-back Mason Barrett were both forced off after 30 minutes due to injury, and Taylor felt his side lost control of the game despite it still being goalless at that point.

“Both are freak injuries. I’m slightly more concerned about Mason, because his knee actually gave way underneath him,” sais Taylor.

“We’ll get them both scanned, but it now looks as if we might be without Mason, and we might be without Craig. We’ve had this season without Craig. He’s started today, and we were looking to get him some valuable minutes and try to push him to 90 (minutes played) after 75 on Wednesday.

“For some reason, that hasn’t happened. It just leaves a really sour taste in your mouth when two goals - even one goal should be enough - when there’s only seven or eight minutes left to defend. That should be enough to get guys the vital three points.

“The players need to understand, and I’m sure they do, if you add up the points from the goals we’ve conceded and you add those points on if we would've been more ruthless at defending our goal, we’d probably be halfway up the league.”

The Stones will be looking for an immediate reaction when they take on League Two outfit Grimsby Town in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Taylor’s squad resume their National League campaign a week later at Aldershot Town.