Tauranga City captain Raymond How admitted his side 'shot themselves in the foot” after a 3-2 defeat in the opening game of their Lotto NRFL Division One campaign on Saturday.

Visitors Mt. Albert Ponsonby left Links Avenue with all three points thanks to a first-half brace from Alex Cochran and a smart run and finish from Marshall Gurney shortly after the break.

In a game marred by a flurry of yellow cards, the home side's challenge got even greater after Connor Irvine was sent off for a second bookable offence in the second-half.

Despite Tauranga keeper Tom Pamment being the busier of the two stoppers, City had responded well to Cochran's close-range opener, and equalised within eight minutes thanks to a brilliantly improvised chip from Irish striker Colm Kenny.

Cochran's second, on the stroke of half-time, failed to take the wind out of Tauranga's sails and within two minutes of the restart they were level once more when skipper How nodded in from a corner.

But in keeping with the topsy-turvy nature of the fixture, the sucker punch landed almost immediately. Gurney's run wasn't picked up and he made City pay with what turned out to be the winner in the 49th minute.

'We went away from our game plan a little bit,” conceded How. 'They came out fired-up – as you'd expect a side from Auckland to do – but things got a bit scrappy from our point of view and we shot ourselves in the foot.

'We weren't at the races and it's our own fault. We've got no excuses.

'We went in at half-time a little bit down because of their goal, but we geed ourselves up and got it back to 2-2 early enough after the break.

'But we shot ourselves in the foot again and their goal to make it 3-2 was a big blow.”

Speaking about his goalscoring start to the season, defender How added: 'I'd rather secure a win than score a goal, but these things happen.

'It's hard to take a defeat at home, but we have to rock on next week and hopefully pick up points as soon as we can.

'We were unbeaten throughout pre-season, and we were missing a three or four players for a number of different reasons.

'But we still had the personnel to get something out of that game, so it's our own fault.”

Tauranga City's next fixture is an away trip to Oratia United on Good Friday (March 30, 3pm kick-off).

Lotto NRFL Division One Saturday, March 24

Tauranga City 2-3 Mt. Albert Ponsonby (HT: 1-2)

TC: Colm Kenny (26), Raymond How (47) MAP: Alex Cochran (18, 45), Marshall Gurney (49)