A strong performance went unrewarded for Watford Ladies on Sunday as they suffered a fifth straight Women's Super League 2 defeat following a 3-1 loss at home to Doncaster Rovers Belles.

A Jo Wilson goal had put the Hornets in front at the interval but second-placed Donny, who have only lost once in the league this season, showed their quality in the second half.

Despite the defeat, manager John Salomon was impressed by his side's display and told the club's website: "In the first half we couldn’t have asked for any more of the players, they were absolutely superb.

"We defended resolutely, restricted Doncaster and they only had shots from distance in the first half."

The first goal of the game came from a strike by Wilson, who slotted the ball into the back of the net in the 40th minute.

"We countered well, stuck to our game plan, got chances on the break and eventually that goal came," Salomon said. "We went 1-0 up at half time but ran out of steam in the second half."

The Belles lifted their game in the second half as Bethany England scored twice, before Reanne Thomas completed the victory.

The defeat was further compounded by a setback for Renee Hector, who is the latest to be added to the list of injured players, after she picked up an injury towards the end of the game.

Injuries have caused the Golden Girls problems in recent weeks and Salomon is all too aware of the difficulty this is causing.

"There’s tired legs out there because we’re carrying so many injuries at the minute," he said. "Renee’s come off injured today as well and we couldn’t start Georgia (Mays) because she came off Thursday night.

"We’ve had to make changes again, it would be nice for once to be able to put the same eleven out in two consecutive games.

"There’s a lot of players that are not available to us and the depth of the squad is being quickly absorbed.

"We had five substitutes today of which two were goalkeepers. We’ve got 38 players in our squad but we’ve just got so many players out at the moment."

Despite the defeat, Salomon believes a change in fortunes will come if his players maintain their level of performance and effort.

"I’m proud of them, they’ve come in and stuck to the game plan," he Salomon.

"The attitude and the mentality is there, they’re working really hard and it will come together for this group, I know it will.

"It’s hard to take but credit to Doncaster, they were the better team today, they took their chances and they’ve come away with the win, which we can hold our hands up and say they deserved."

Watford Ladies were denied the point their performance deserved at Millwall last Thursday, as the hosts won the game after a late penalty. And it doesn't get any easier for Salomon's charges, who make the trip to unbeaten leaders Sunderland Ladies on Sunday.