Southern United now has plenty to do if it is to make the national women's league playoffs.
It was beaten 3-1 by Capital in Wellington on Saturday, leaving it in fifth place on seven points.
That allowed Capital to jump ahead of Southern to 10 points and it remains with a game in hand.
A goal just before halftime put Southern down 2-1, before a red card to Renee Bacon left it with a tough task to get back into the game.
Southern coach Ignacio Sande said the team did well to create chances, although Capital made better use of its opportunities.
Football Fern Sarah Gregorius gave Capital the lead 10 minutes in.
She got the ball at halfway and jinked her way through the Southern defence, before finishing well to make it 1-0.
Southern responded straight away through Shontelle Smith and it nearly became two when Georgia Brown hit the crossbar from a volley.
Capital struck next though and Gregorius was once again influential. She won the ball and found Maya Hahn, who released for Anne McPhie to bury the ball in the bottom corner of the net in the 40th minute.
That gave Capital the lead at halftime although Southern remained in touch.
However, closing the gap became tougher 10 minutes after halftime when Bacon was sent from the field.
Gregorious had been put through on goal and Bacon mistimed her tackle as she tracked back. She was initially shown a yellow card, although that was escalated to a red when the assistant referee got involved.
It was a big blow, Southern not only losing a player, but one of its best players.
Sande said Bacon's tackle had not been malicious, having been behind Gregorious and coming at her from her inside, although he was philosophical about the card.
Southern kept attacking, though, and Sande was pleased with the way the side was able to create chances.
However, it was unable to finish any of those and Gregorious completed the job for Capital with another goal in the 82nd minute.
It was a tough result and Sande felt fatigue was becoming a factor, following
two games in three days last weekend, as well as many of the players not getting a break between winter and summer seasons.
University exams, which finish this week, had also left Southern without several players for Saturday's game.
Five games remain for Southern and Sande said the side still believed it could make the top three, although it needed to win all its games from here.
In other games Auckland handed Canterbury United 3-1 to give the league leaders their first loss of the season.
Meanwhile Northern beat WaiBOP 3-0.
Both move to 14 points in second place.
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Comments
If fatigue is a factor, why on earth is the team on a training schedule that sees them train three times in just 24 hours - every week.
That's exactly that Southern United's physio says teams should never, ever do.
And it's often followed up by another training the day immediately before game day. No wonder so many of the players are feeling continually exhausted all week including on game day BEFORE they even start.