With 2 players pulling out at the last minute on Sunday, a slightly weakened 2nd placed City travelled to take on top of the table Southend Manor.

Regular centre half Becky Bryant volunteered to take on goalkeeping duties and produced a solid display. City more than matched their unbeaten opponents and deservedly took the lead when Bex Hinton fired home from the edge of the box after some good play down the right hand side.

Manor soon levelled. Bryant managed to take the sting out of the shot, but it spun off her gloves and her attempts to claw it away were in vane as the referee and linesman judged the ball to have crossed the line.

City came out for the second half and continued to hassle the Manor players, allowing them little time on the ball. However, with 10 minutes to play, Manor gained a corner and slack defending resulted in a second goal for the home team from a free header.

City continued to fight and pressed forward but were unlucky to concede a third goal with just minutes left on the clock.

On the face of it a draw would have been a fair result as both teams played good flowing football, giving the crowd the best team display of the season from City so far.

Chelmsford City: Becky Bryant, Shannon Jones (Natasha Boyd), Gabby Freedman, Ellie Brown, Tayla Peel, Bex Hinton, Molly Dubell, Rosie Coe, Christie Hill.

Player of the match: Ellie Brown

This Sunday, City hope to get back to winning ways with an away game at Assundun Vikings.