Daisy Hill continued their disappointing start to the season as they slumped to a 5-0 defeat at Nelson on Saturday.

In a first half Halloween horror show, Nelson ran in four goals before half time to end the game as a contest, and although Daisy only conceded one more goal in the second half through a debateable penalty, the damage had already been done.

Nelson were on the front foot from the start and almost took the lead from the first attack of the game, when Zac Clark headed wide at the far post from a Luke Merrill cross.

Sam Dickinson then curled a shot just wide from 15 yards, before the opener arrived on 6 minutes, when Jack Foster picked up a pass on the left, and lofted the ball over Daisy keeper Cameron Allison from 25 yards.

It took until the 23rd minute before Daisy created a chance of note, when Danny Warburton swept a pass out to Connor Hughes, who cut inside and fired in a shot from the edge of the box that just missed the target.

However, a minute later Nelson doubled their advantage when Cameron Allison and Nick Critchley collided when going to clear a cross, and the ball fell into the path of Zac Clark who had the simplest of tasks to tap in from close range.

It got worse for Daisy on 28 minutes when Nelson bagged their third goal, with Charlie Lloyd timing his run to the post perfectly to get on the end of Dylan Meredith’s cross.

Daisy desperately needed to get a grip of the game, and were unlucky not to pull a goal back when Adam Farrell’s header from a Connor Hughes cross was cleared off the line with the keeper beaten.

But any hopes of a revival were extinguished two minutes before half time, when Nelson’s Jack Foster grabbed his second of the afternoon, with some neat footwork taking past the covering defender before coolly slotting the ball under Allison for Nelson’s fourth goal.

After the break, the pace of the game dropped, although just after the hour Nelson added a fifth goal when Zac Clark went to ground under a challenge from Daisy keeper Allison.

The referee initially awarded a corner kick, but after consulting with his assistant he pointed to the penalty spot, a decision that sparked furious protests from the Daisy players.

When order was eventually restored Jack Foster stepped up to convert the penalty and claim his hat trick.

To Daisy’s credit they kept going, and substitute Tom Jackson was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet when he fired in a terrific volley from a Jake O’Brien cross, but ball just missed the far post.

But it would have made little difference to the final outcome, on an afternoon that is best forgotten by everyone in the visiting camp.