MANAGER Paul Cook did not believe Aristote Nsiala’s dismissal was the cause of Accrington’s late defeat at Dagenham.

Bobby Grant gave the visitors a half-time lead but Brian Woodall equalised with five minutes remaining before Scott Doe headed home in injury time, with on-loan Everton defender Nsiala shown a straight red card moments before Doe’s winner.

Cook said: “People can blame the referee, but there are plenty of reasons why we’ve lost.

“We’ve discussed them and I think they should remain private.

“In the first half we were really good.

“We were a threat going forwards and strong at the back, we restricted Dagenham to no chances. We created lots of good chances ourselves and showed lots of energy, but at the moment we’re coming out in the second half of games and not playing half as well.

“Football is about 90 minutes and we’ve got to try and punish teams when we’re on top.

“I thought there were good signs for us. It’s strange when you get beaten.

“We’re sick we lost but we’re looking for positive signs going forwards and I thought some of our lads were terrific.

“When you get clapped off by the Accrington fans that’s normally a guide of what you’ve done.”