Bourne Town dropped into the Northern Premier League Midlands Division relegation zone after their defensive frailties were exposed in a home defeat to Mickleover on Tuesday night.

The Wakes had taken an early lead through a stunning strike from Dan Forbes and then levelled through skipper Zac Allen after going 2-1 down.

However, they conceded a third goal on the stroke of half-time which eventually proved enough for their Derbyshire visitors to take the point.

The Wakes have now taken shipped 17 goals in their last five league games which is proving a major cause for concern for boss Dan Flack.

He said: "We have conceded three terrible goals again and I keep saying the same thing hoping that we will learn but we're not.

"I told the players afterwards that if they don't want to defend or put their bodies on the line then we need to have a real hard look at it.

"I thought we were the better side in the second half and looked the more dominant but that's irrelevant because you can't just play for 45 minutes of a game which is what we're doing at the moment.

"We are giving ourselves a mountain to climb when we concede three goals at home to then expect to go and score four.

"That's tough at this level but we're conceding way too many goals and arguably the opposition haven't had to work hard enough to score 15 of those 17 goals we've let in recently.

"They have been easy goals to score because we've been making mistakes and wrong decisions."

Bourne had started brightly with Connor Furey firing an effort just wide before they took a 10th minute lead as Forbes unleashed an unstoppable effort from 35 yards to open the scoring.

However, the advantage lasted just two minutes before Josh Ashman equalised for the visitors by tapping home a rebound after goalkeeper Will Lakin had initially saved a free-kick.

Mickleover then took a 15th minute lead as Josh Carter latched onto a ball over the top before slotting his finish past Lakin.

The Wakes equalised just past the half-hour mark when they were awarded a penalty following a foul from a set piece and Allen converted the resulting spot kick.

It should have given Bourne the boost they needed but they conceded a third goal in first half stoppage time as Carter netted for the second time on the night.

Bourne looked for a way back into the contest after the break with Lewis Darlington and Henry Dunn both sending shots wide.

Forbes then fired an effort against the outside of the post in the dying throes as Bourne were unable to get back onto level terms.

Flack added: "The goal right before half-time was a killer because we had the opportunity to put the ball into an area and we tried to dribble right across the pitch.

"We let the guy shoot from the edge of the box without putting any pressure on him and it was a tough one to take."

Bourne have an FA Trophy tie on Saturday as they host Banbury United in a first round proper clash at the JJ Mac Stadium.