Bristol Academy boss Mark Sampson believes his side are not far away from their first win of the season – despite opening their campaign with two straight defeats.

The Academy take on Nottingham Forest at Almondsbury on Sunday (2pm) looking to bounce back after losing 2-0 to newly-promoted Millwall, who have made a flying start to the campaign and top the FA Premier League National Division with a 100 per cent record.

Connie Marsh came close to putting Bristol ahead but hit the woodwork in the first half and the Lionesses then scored twice in the final 15 minutes through Charlotte Gurr.

"We put in a good performance and dominated the game for 75 minutes," said Sampson. "We looked the likelier to score until they went ahead.

"We are happy with how we played and we feel our first win is coming. It's important we keep our performance level up."

Keynsham Town also suffered a defeat, going down 1-0 to Brighton thanks to Amy Found's goal as the visitors leapfrogged the Somerset club to move into third place in the Southern Division.

Forest Green Rovers top the SW Combination after a 3-1 win at Swindon Town made it three wins out of three, while Yeovil Town took their goals tally to 30 in their last two games with a 9-1 trouncing of newly-promoted Cullompton.

Oldland Abbotonians have had a tough start to life in the Premier Division of the SW Women's League and went down 4-0 to Larkhall.

After two straight promotions, assistant boss Steve Lavis believes Oldland need 15 points to ensure survival and remains confident the side will come to grips with the higher flight.

"The gap between the County League and what was Division One of the Regional League isn't that big – but we are finding there is a big gap between that and the Premier Division," he said. "Larkhall's movement and passing showed us the sort of level we need to reach."

The local derby between Stoke Lane and Bristol Ladies Union was postponed, as was Downend Flyers' clash at Swindon Town Reserves in Eastern Division One.

The revamped Gloucestershire County League – expanded to three divisions this season – kicks off this weekend with Bitton hoping to make an impression in Division Two. They fought out a 0-0 draw against Bridgwater in their final warm-up game and boss Steve Jones is likely to include six new signings in the squad that travels to Cheltenham Civil service.