Swiss Cottage-based Highbury Korfball Club suffered another blow in their bid for promotion in London Regional League One after they were defeated for the second game in a row, going down 20-13 at home against Trojans II.

Before the game, Highbury player-coach Andrew Speck called for a disciplined and strong performance against a well-drilled and experienced Trojans side. But within minutes the home side were 4-0 down as the opposition punished their sluggish start.

It got even worse for Highbury when Joanna Faure-Walker was injured in a collision, leaving her unable to continue the match, and before long they found themselves 7-0 behind.

Goals from Ana Rocha, Rachel Dixon and Niccola Hyslop finally got Highbury onto the scoreboard, but the damage had been done and they trailed 12-3 at the interval.

Speck knew the game was out of reach but called for a reaction from his players, setting Highbury the target of winning the second half – and they did so.

Portuguese player Rocha started the scoring on the way to another hat-trick, helping to shift the momentum Highbury’s way – and the boys also began to fire with long- range efforts from Martin Petrie and Matt Dodds, while a hat-trick from club captain Moses Hutchinson-Pascal kept the hosts in the ascendency.

Highbury scored 10 goals to the Trojans’ eight, but it was not enough to get close to a team whose sizzling first-half performance set them up for a deserved victory.

Speck said: “It was disappointing to have started the game slowly and also for the injury to Joanna especially. The performance was not representative of what Highbury are capable of achieving.

“I’m pleased with the response in the second half, with the team gaining confidence that we can match our game with this level of opposition. However, at the end of the day we let the game get away from us too much in the first half, which was the difference between the two sides.”