Early goals cost Dons Women dearly in defeat to leaders Portsmouth

A Portsmouth goal inside the first minute left MK Dons Women on the back-foot as they suffered their second defeat to the south-coast opponents in a week.

Sunday's 3-0 league loss to Pompey came just seven days after they were beaten 1-0 in the FAWNL Cup, but it was a Beth Lumsden strike after 30 seconds which immediately got the game off to a flying start, and had manager Charlie Bill lamenting.

The home side would double their lead by the 11 minute mark when Jazz Younger headed home Emma Jones' corner.

Pompey could have been high and dry at the interval, but for Chloe Samson's save to keep out Jones' effort to make it 3-0.

Dons' first-half was made worse when midfielder Emily Wilson was put in the sin-bin for dissent.

Having started the first-half poorly, Dons did exactly the same in the second, with Lumsden again striking barely a minute after the restart to make it 3-0.

Lumsden could have had a hat-trick but for a good Samson save, while Dani Lane fired just over the bar as the league leaders looked to hammer home their advantage.

It remained 3-0 though come the final whistle, with manager Bill frustrated by the way his side started both halves.

“It made it tough conceding a goal so early on," he said. "Especially against a side who haven’t conceded at home within the league yet. “There are some positives to take out of the game, we had 16 shots on goal and done everything but score. But we also gifted them moments where we weren’t good enough – against top sides like Portsmouth they will punish that, they have done for a long while now.

“We set high standard for ourselves, and today we haven’t quite met that. But I know that each individual player, as well as us as staff will all be disappointed with that because we work so hard for one another.”