BROMSGROVE Ladies Firsts kicked off their Midlands Feeder West campaign with a 4-2 defeat at home to Telford.
However, the scoreline does not truly reflect how well Bromsgrove played at times.
Alan Gormley’s side fell behind after just ten minutes when following some intense pressure on their opponent’s goal, a loose midfield pass was picked up on by Telford who raced down the other end to score.
Telford then doubled their lead in identical fashion.
Despite some strong attacking play from Katy Masters and Stacey Nash, Bromsgrove could not find the goal until a superb run by Laura Underhill set up Lucy Taylor to score.
Early in the second half Telford restored their two-goal advantage when keeper Ali Powell had the ball covered only for it to take an unfortunate deflection.
Bromsgrove skipper Heather Nunnerley drove Bromsgrove back into attack before Tricky Burton reduced the arrears.
Following this, Bromsgrove piled on attack after attack with Lisa Smiley, Underhill and Nunnerley all thwarted by the Telford keeper.
Telford then scored their fourth and final goal of the game with another quick breakaway.
Coach Gormley said: “Before the match we said the only difference between our old league and this new higher one would be the physicality of the opposition and the way they were clinical in the shooting area. Sadly that’s how the game panned out.
“We had far more attacks and shots on goal than they did but they converted theirs, we didn’t. It was a very encouraging performance though with plenty of positives to build on.”
Bromsgrove travel to early pace setters Harborne Seconds on Saturday (12.45pm start).