BRADFORD City Women were unable to mark their return home with a win as they slipped to a narrow 2-1 defeat against a clinical Fylde side.

On their own turf for the first time since December, City put in a dominant display but failed to create many chances in a game where they came at a premium.

Captaining the team in the absence of the injured Charlotte Oates, midfielder Yasmin Ayub felt the team could have got more from the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division contest.

"It was a really great moment for myself to captain the girls but it's disappointing that I couldn't help lead us to the result we were hoping for – especially after the performance we put on," she said.

"We had a few chances and came really close in both the first and second half. We do need to create more but there must also be an emphasis on converting these into goals."

Fylde opened the scoring early in the second half through Yasmine Swarbrick but the goal came against the run of play.

City had been only a fingertip save away from taking the lead on the stroke of half-time as Laura Elford was spectacularly denied.

Elford equalised within seconds of the Bantams falling behind but Swarbrick bagged her brace with less than 20 minutes to go to give Fylde all three points.

City were hoping to take victory into two crucial games in the next week – a visit from champions West Bromwich Albion on Sunday and a County Cup semi-final next Wednesday.

Yet Ayub believes there are still plenty of positives ahead of these two matches.

"We just need to continue to work on the same things in training," she said, pleased with the football played despite the defeat.

"Focusing on the type of football we want to play will bring us success in our games. I think having some consistency and a run of games will definitely help us in terms of results too.

"We've had some huge fixture gaps lately and it's difficult to stay match fit when you're not playing week to week."

City will hope that regular bursts on 90 minutes these past couple of weeks can aid their attempts to end the season successfully.