YATE Town’s slump in form continued as they suffered their third away defeat in eight days at Godalming Town on Tuesday night.

Having slipped to ninth place, the Bluebells’ play-off hopes are fading quickly - they have a four-point deficit to make up on the top five but all the teams around them have played fewer games.

Godalming made a bright start and Jack Mazzone’s low 20-yard drive hit the post early on.

The home side went ahead on 15 minutes when Dan Read ran at the Yate defence before his cross was converted by Jack Broome.

As Yate looked for a quick response, Lewis Haldane had an effort well saved by Zaki Oualah with Jake Cox blazing the follow-up attempt over the bar.

However, Godalming doubled their lead seven minutes before the break when Mazzone made a strong run down the left and laid the ball off for Broome, whose shot from the edge of the box went in off the post.

Godalming took just three minutes of the second half to increase their lead further. Martin Horsell, returning to the side after being unavailable for the game at North Leigh, rushed out of his area but Mazzone pinched the ball away from him and lobbed it back over the Yate goalkeeper and into the net.

Yate’s main threat came from corners and Joe Chandler headed in a consolation goal in the third minute of injury time.

Rob Cousins’ side will be looking to rescue their play-off bid when they host Stratford Town on Saturday (3pm).

The game will be part of Yate Town’s ‘Supporting The Local Community Day’, where members of the club’s youth development squad will take part in pre-match five-a-side matches and soccer skills at half-time with 11 of them chosen as mascots to walk out with the senior team. Thornbury and Yate MP Steve Webb will be attending as a special guest.