COVENTRY City Ladies suffered their second consecutive defeat in the Women's Premier League National Division after losing 4-2 at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

The Sky Blues were looking to bounce back from last weekend's disappointing 3-0 defeat at Barnet and Cudby made several major changes to his side for the fixture at Bedworth Oval.

Courtney Sweetman-Kirk tested the Forest keeper from long range and Maz Gauntlett headed just wide from a Helen Dermody corner as Cudby's side committed players forward in search of an opener.

But Forest had other ideas and took the lead in the 25th minute when Sophie Bradley headed home direct from a corner and Andi Bell made it two four minutes before half-time after slotting the ball past Sue Wood in the Coventry goal.

Kerry Manley replaced Emily Simpkins at the interval in a bid to stop Forest's attacking threat but the visitors went further ahead when a dangerous free kick caused panic in the Coventry area and Suzanne Davis was able to bundle the ball over the line.

The Sky Blues found themselves 3-0 down for the second week running but an inspired substitution injected some much needed hope into the team when substitute Jade Formaston struck a superb long range shot into the top right-hand corner.

At 3-1 Cudby's side looked on top for the first time in the match but failed to create any clear cut chances and the game was put beyond doubt when Bell fired home her second in the final minute of the match.

Courtney Sweetman-Kirk scored a late consolation goal almost straight from the kick off but it proved to late in the day as the Sky Blues suffered their second consecutive defeat.

"I felt we started well enough, and in patches of the game played well," said Cudby.

"We were disappointed with the goals we conceded, although we know we can work on those things and tighten up on them, so a good week's work in training should give us some confidence going into next week's game.

"At the half way point we've got a good points tally, the last few games have been tough so we'll have to make some adjustments; we've got some strong characters in the squad and our resolve is going to be tested now.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how we're going to respond, Reading will be a tough challenge for us."

Team: Wood, Wilcox, Steele (Ward 62), Simpkins (Manley 46), Lynch, Butler (Formaston 56), Torkildsen, Dermody, Gauntlett, Sweetman-Kirk, Durrant

Subs not used - Morgan, Barber