Oxford United Women fell to a 3-0 defeat away to Hashtag United Women on Sunday afternoon.
The U’s conceded three goals in the second half which cost them the game, falling to a third straight defeat.
Hashtag hit the crossbar within the third minute, but after that Oxford responded well. Skipper Leah Burridge sent an effort inches over the opposite crossbar from range ten minutes later.
Izzy Cook’s strike just before half time went the wrong side of the post and hit the side netting, so the sides went into the break level at 0-0.
Lacy Liggett replaced Cook just before the hour mark in an attempt to freshen up the attack and find the opener, but it was Hashtag who broke the deadlock.
In the 68th minute, Sammy Rowland was played in behind and made no mistake, slotting it through Paris Sercombe’s legs.
Tash Stephens and Vita Budaieva replaced Sarah King and Ellie Noble to try and find a leveller, but the U’s couldn’t get back into the game, and in the 85th minute the Essex side had the three points wrapped up when Malika Apindia was tripped by Taome Oliver in the box, and Grace Gillard converted the penalty kick.
There was a positive for the U’s however, as midfielder Lily Stevens got some minutes in the tank towards the end of the game after a long spell on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
Then, against the run of play, the Tags added insult to injury with a third and a second for Rowland with a deflected effort in the first minute of stoppage time.
Manager Sam Rose said
“It’s been a tough run of games and we haven’t been good enough, but we also haven’t got some of the goals we maybe deserved and conceded goals in unlucky ways.
“I’ve learnt a lot about what I need to do in games like that, how we can set up and what we can get from the players moving forward so we can ultimately win these games and get to where we want to be.
“Today doesn’t feel like a 3-0 game but we’ve given away a penalty from switching off from a drop ball and they’ve got down the sides and scored and that’s probably what’s undone us.
“It’s good that we’ve got two games coming up now to put that right and pick up points, starting on Thursday night against Cheltenham.”
United
Sercombe, Provan, Gibson, Wiseman, Oliver, Noble (Budaieva, 73'), Burridge, Legg (Stevens, 87'), King (Stephens, 73'), Barratt, Cook (Liggett, 58')
Unused Subs:
Flynn