ZOE Roberts admitted the manner of both goals conceded made Bradford City Women's 2-1 defeat to Fylde especially hard to take.

Charlotte Stuart's header gave City an early lead in the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division contest.

But Natasha Flint was allowed plenty of space to equalise before an unfortunate deflection gifted Sophie Charlton a late winner.

Roberts says the goals made the home defeat even more frustrating in a game which had seen her team produce plenty of positives.

"It's hard to take – very hard to take," she said.

"I thought we started the game very well. We got an early goal, which is always good, and scored from a set-piece for once, which is a bonus.

"It was hard to take the first goal in the condition it was in, with it being a possible foul and coming from our throw-in.

"But we needed to start the game strongly in the second half and we slipped off a little bit and let them back in.

"Then it was just a sloppy second goal. So, it was hard to take, but there's a lot of positives from the game."

The result means City are now winless in three outings and Roberts admits they are struggling to pinpoint what the problem is.

She said: "It's very difficult to find what's going wrong at the minute. There's something not clicking. That's why we're spending a lot of time off the field.

"I think it's more game management really. I wouldn't say we don't know how to defend a lead but I think it's a bit of a shock when we take a lead and we sort of sit back a little bit.

"We invite pressure onto ourselves a lot and I think that's our downfall. If we kept going and kept pushing, it'd be a different game.

"But I think we sit back and allow pressure and it's very hard to soak up pressure. I think that's something we need to work on."

Yet Roberts is confident that the results will come if City continue to work as they are.

With plenty of team bonding going on off the pitch, and hard work being put into training, she believes it is only a matter of time until the rewards are seen on a Sunday.

She said: "We've got to keep going. It's something you can't get your heads down about.

"You've just got to keep your heads up and the results will come. The performances are there, the football is there, we've just got to stick together."