Dolly Blues are hits for six in difficult night at Morpeth

The Dolly Blues – who are missing a number of key individuals due to injury – went down to their fourth defeat of the campaign.

The result leaves them stuck in the NPL Premier Division relegation zone.

Things began brightly for City and Henri Ogunby almost gave them the lead in the fifth minute when his superb curling shot struck the crossbar.

A spell of pressure from the hosts was then competently dealt with before Kyle Brownhill shot wide after being set up by Sam Bailey’s throw-in in the 16th minute.

A minute later, David Norris saw his shot deflected off target while Bailey’s drilled effort was blocked for a corner.

With City looking threatening, they were undone at the other end when Jeff Henderson sent a header past Tom Donaghy – on loan from Fleetwood Town – from a corner.

The visitors were soon level though when Dom Lawson superbly headed home.

Unfortunately, the hosts grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck shortly before half-time with two quick goals. Chris Reid restored the advantage with a smart finish and then Ryan Wombwell smashed a first-time effort beyond the despairing dive of Donaghy from the edge of the area.

Two minutes after half-time, City fell further behind through Jack Foelle but Bailey pulled a goal back from the penalty spot.

It was soon 5-2 courtesy of Michael Turner and Wombwell completed the hosts’ scoring with the sixth.

There was time for Enock Likoy to smash home a third for City in the final minute.

A deflated boss Mark Fell said: “The last 10 days have probably been the hardest I have ever had it.

"I feel helpless because we are in a position where we have had so many key players unavailable to us.

"No team in semi-professional football could live without such resources.

"It started at Bury in the FA Cup when we went there with just nine fit players.

"It carried on at Matlock and even on Tuesday night when we lost Ed Ikpakwu after 25 minutes, we had to change our shape and that made us very vulnerable defensively. We have gone from having the best defence in the league to probably the worst.”