Midfielder Matty Sparrow hit United's late consolation, but Laws admitted that the performance was not good enough.
He told BBC Radio Humberside: "There was no urgency in the first-half, you wouldn't recognise the team that played at Southend on Friday night.
"We were second best all round in the first-half. If we give them goals you're in an uphill battle to get a result.
"We know that Nathan Tyson's got pace, that's why Stevland Angus was there, yet we've tried to play offisde five yards in our own half. That certainly wasn't in the plan!
"If we showed the kind of commitment we did in the second- half in the first we'd have won. We were seconds behind the opposition, when you do that it's difficult to get going.
"I'm clueless as to how we went out and took 45 minutes to get going, we need to stamp on it and make sure it doesn't happen again.
"We didn't deserve to get anything out of the game, no matter what we did in the second-half. You can't win on a second-half performance when you're two goals down."
United return to League action on Saturday as Leyton Orient arrive at Glanford Park, and Laws promised changes - with Andy Butler returning from injury and Ian Baraclough back after a one-match ban.
Laws said: "We'll have Andy available, hopefully come Saturday he'll be available for us.
"Ian Baraclough is back, we missed his experience, we were running round like headless chickens
"We've got a great oppor to get out of the division, we'll regroup and get the players going again. Nobody can knock on my door after this first-half performance and demand to be in the team on Saturday, I will make changes."