Cambridge City made to pay for defensive errors in defeat to Dussindale and Hellesdon Rovers

Three goals in six minutes of defensive chaos meant an unhappy new year for Cambridge City in the 4-1 defeat at Dussindale & Hellesdon Rovers – a result that leaves them still firmly rooted to the foot of the Eastern Region Premier Division.

Natasha Coe was on target for a youthful Lilywhites side that was missing their experienced captain Jade Barratt and the injured Lily Horsler, but with additional strikes at the start of the first and second halves for the home team, it meant the goal was no more than a consolation.

Stewart Nicholls’ team face second and third-placed Haringey Borough and Luton Town in the coming weeks, yet the need to start collecting points is growing greater if they want to avoid relegation in consecutive seasons.

The City boss said: “I thought it was really frustrating today that we weren’t getting the basics right.

“You could see we started playing out from the back, and I thought it was working well, but as soon as we let the first goal in, we went into our shells and started hiding in places. I think that comes with a young team and struggling for results.

“We changed the formation at half-time as we thought Faith (Harrison) was really isolated and needed someone for her to play off. Second half was what we wanted, and you could see the press working. But we need to start every game with that tempo and work rate if we to want to win matches.”

It all went wrong for City in the 14th minute. A weakly-taken free-kick failed to clear the halfway line and was immediately returned into the penalty area only for City to clear. The resulting corner went through a group of defenders at the near post and goalkeeper Erica Neale before being tapped home by Rovers.

A minute later City conceded again in identical fashion with another corner failing to be cleared, while Neale was at fault for the third goal on in the 20th minute when she came out of her area to clear, only for the ball to drop kindly for an opposition attacker to roll into an empty net.

Credit to the City stopper, she did not let the error impact her game as she went on to produce three good saves as the Rovers dominated the remainder of the first half.

City came out after the break in a new 4-4-2 formation, yet it was the hosts that added a fourth goal early on after the restart.

However, City never stopped competing and they were rewarded when Coe’s well-taken free-kick went in on 83 minutes.

Meanwhile, Coe and Harrison combined again the day before in a friendly with US team Carolina Velocity in Sawston. Harrison scored twice both set up by measured through balls from Coe – in the 4-2 reverse to the touring side.

City are away to Haringey Borough on Sunday (12 January).