Watford Ladies boss John Salomon admitted his side have given themselves a mountain to climb following their 4-2 loss to Yeovil Town Ladies on Sunday – their sixth defeat in eight league games this season.

The Lady Hornets currently prop up the Women’s Super League 2 standings after London Bees picked up their first win of the season against Millwall Lionesses on Wednesday evening.

But all is far from lost for Salomon’s side, with just three points separating eighth-placed Durham Women and Watford in tenth.

“We’re obviously disappointed we’ve come out of the game with nothing and it’s a slow start that’s cost us again,” said Salomon. “We’ve got to start performing from the off, we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb.”

Watford fell 2-0 behind in the opening nine minutes following goals from Natasha Knapman and Helen Bleazard, leaving themselves facing an uphill struggle.

And Salomon admitted his side had been facing an uphill battle even before kick-off after losing captain Emily Heaslip to injury in the warm-up.

“It’s a shame for Emily, she’s been a real consistent performer for us this season and is a good leader on the pitch for the girls,” said the manager.

“It’s a very young side but she’s one of the more experienced players, so to lose her in the warm-up was disappointing. Vanna (Lee) has come in and done very well to be fair, she’s not used to playing at this level so she got to half time and then we decided to get fresh legs on.”

But Watford fought hard to overcome their disappointing start and halved the deficit on 39 minutes when Stacie Donnelly picked out the top corner.

Their delight was short-lived, though, as the West Country outfit re-established their two-goal cushion just 60 seconds later through Annie Heatherson.

“The players reacted really well and I thought we finished the half strongly,” stated Salomon. “We were fairly decent second half in patches but we’ve got to get to a stage where we’re performing consistently for 90 minutes.

“We came out in the second half with a slightly different set-up and then with about 15 minutes to go changed the shape again and ultimately got one goal back from doing that.”

However, the impressive Heatherson had other ideas when it came to a Watford comeback and after assisting two and scoring the third herself the forward doubled her tally by firing home a free-kick with 18 minutes remaining to re-open a two-goal lead.

Watford, to their credit, refused to roll over and die and pulled back a second goal with five minutes left on the clock. Josie Green was tripped inside the penalty area and Jenna Dear converted the subsequent spot kick to give the Lady Hornets a glimmer of hope.

Ultimately though, Watford were unable to give their fans anything to cheer about. Not that the result stopped the record-breaking Broadwater crowd of 465 from backing their side to the hilt.

“The fans were great, there was loads of noise,” said Salomon. “Yeovil had their two drummers and we had the 1881 guys who made for a fantastic atmosphere and really got behind us throughout.

“It’s a shame we haven’t been able to give them a win but with six goals and a penalty, it was quite an entertaining game for the neutral or the first-timer.

“Every attendance we’ve had so far has been considerably above last season’s average. Off the pitch we’re moving the club in the right direction.”

Watford will go in search of their second league win on Sunday when they travel to Everton Ladies.