Yatton & Cleeve United were taught a lesson by Timsbury Athletic at King George V Playing Fields, after the visitors won 6-2 on Bank Holiday Monday, according to manager Mark Francis.
The hosts came into the game six games unbeaten but were given a reality check as they hosted high-flying Athletic.
The first half started evenly although United were dealt an early blow when they lost winger George Frost to injury.
Despite having a similar number of chances themselves, a combination of excellent finishing and poor defending led to Timsbury scoring three unanswered goals, through Rhys Cook's double and another one from Tim Midgley, before half-time.
After the break Timsbury continued to dominate proceedings and extended their lead further through Jesse Bishop and Ellis Hancock while Cook completed his hat-trick.
Francis' men continued to battle and were rewarded with a couple of late goals - the first an Elliott Shipway penalty after Lucas Mortimer was fouled and the second scored by Alex Bird after being set up by Mortimer.
In-between the strikes, Toby Neilson was sent-off for a reckless challenge on Mortimer as United fell to their first defeat since November, ironically against the same team and the same scoreline.
"It was a very solid top of the team side that has been there for quite some time against a very naïve team we have got," said Francis.
"We have got a lot do to get to their standards so fair play to them it’s a learning experience for us. We kept going that’s what the whole idea was to keep going.
"We will learn from every experience we have got. They showed us how to play football today very simply, very solidly, so we will take that away and bring it to the next game."
United return to action this Saturday by welcoming Wells City Reserves to the King George V Playing Fields and Francis has called on his side to put Saturday's result behind them and focus on putting together another run.
"Another top team, we need to step up if we want to be competitive. It’s about being competitive in every game and learning from it. If we are competitive in our games and we learn from it we go from there," he added.
"We’ve got a decent squad, we have got two of the first team squad with the reserves coming back from injury.
"The squad is getting stronger. Unfortunately we had an injury to (Frost). He’s got a knee injury so we will have to look at that and see what happens from there. We have got a very young side, average age is 22.
"We are just learning and we will develop from there. We’ve done really well this season so far. We need to be consistent and keep it going let’s not drop it off and be an average team. Let’s carry on going and push for that position."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here