Chester FC midfielder Rachel Lever expressed her frustration after The Blues' 6-2 defeat against Salford City on Sunday.
Lever has been in top-form so far this season for The Seals, scoring six goals, including four in the 6-2 victory over Wythenshawe Amateurs.
Speaking after the game, Lever pointed to this slow start and highlighted the lack of urgency from the team towards the beginning of their recent matches.
"We started slow," she said. "That was our problem. It's been our problem for a couple of weeks now.
"I think going away from the pitch now we need to work on that a little bit better, work that bit harder in the first ten minutes, we're on the back foot as soon as we get going."
This has been a running theme for Chester this season, not starting the game fully switched on and therefore having to come from behind to try and get anything from their games.
Despite the slow start, Lever managed to get on the score sheet to make it 2-1, a time in which she believes the team were playing at their best.
"After we went 2-0 down, we did start to get in to the game a little bit," she said, "I was happy going in (to half time) at 3-1 and how we finished that half.
"We should have really kicked on from there and we never. What was important was who got the next goal and unfortunately it was them."
From then on Chester struggled to come back, suffering a heavy defeat to a team who they had beaten 3-1 only six weeks prior in the reverse fixture.
Lever claimed that Salford used that as motivation for the game, coming out fast and with a purpose.
"It was a tough one," she said, "after last time we faced Salford they were obviously coming back for revenge.
"We were the first team to beat them and obviously they've come back fighting today."
The result leaves The Blues fourth in the North West Regional League Division One South, six points off the league leaders Salford.
The Seals will look to bounce back on Sunday with another tough game against Warrington Wolverines, who sit third in the table.
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