Alex Gilbey says Stevenage must get back to doing what they do best after defeat at home to Northampton Town.

The 3-2 reverse at the Lamex ended a run of 13 straight home wins in all competitions and got off to a terrible start, conceding a penalty and a goal inside the opening 60 seconds.

They twice equalised, the Charlton Athletic loanee getting the second of them, but a sloppy goal minutes later won it for the Cobblers.

And those are the sort of things Gilbey wants Boro to put right quickly.

He said: "We got off to the worst possible start and we struggled to get back into the game. 

"But to score two goals at home isn’t good enough and isn’t acceptable so it’s back to the drawing board. 

"We were just a bit shellshocked from them scoring early and it took Danny Rose’s goal to kick us into gear and get us going again. 

"We then did what we’ve done all season. We were on the front foot, had loads of energy and made it difficult.

"We can't just switch it on like a light switch. We need to start games like that and that’s when we are at our best. 

"That’s why we’ve made this such a tough place to come. 

"We need to get back to what we’re good at. 

"We didn’t do that for the first 30 minutes and we can’t let a top team like Northampton come here and dictate."

He is fully convinced though that there will be a response from the squad.

"We’re all disappointed," he said. "This was a massive game for us and we’ve come away with nothing. 

"The lads are down but we’ll get among each other and get ready for [Doncaster on Tuesday]. 

"Nobody gets promoted in October, nobody wins anything. 

"We’ve lost our unbeaten home record but that was going to happen. We weren’t going to go the whole season unbeaten so we just need to roll our sleeves up and crack on. 

"Where we are in the league is because we can bounce back. 

"We’re lucky we’ve got a game on Tuesday because we can bounce back and show people what we are made of." 

He also brushed over the aftermath to the win, with Northampton's players celebrating a little too much for the liking of some of the home staff and Boro boss Steve Evans saying they tried to get in the home dressing room.

Gilbey said: "They were giving it the big ‘un, thinking they had won the league in October. 

"We'll remember that, we’ve still got to go their place and play. 

"We’ll take note of it and forget about it for now. They can have the last laugh today but it is a long old season. 

"It was just the typical football stuff, they weren’t saying too much and it is all part and parcel of it. 

"But as a group and a unit, we have all noted it."

Northampton's match-winner Shaun McWilliams though was unapologetic for the outpouring of joy at the end.

He said: "We were all buzzing and shouting in there. There was a bit of, you know.

"I scored at the end of the day, and I'm not going to score many so there was probably that aspect of it being over the top.

"But who cares. We've come here, we've got the win. They're top of the leader board, everyone wants to beat them and we've managed to do it.

"So we can celebrate in any way we want really."