The McDonalds Red produced one of their most disappointing games of the year in the 3-1 defeat at Morshead Park on Saturday.

City scored twice in the first-half and again shortly after the break in what was a dominant performance.

Ballarat's only goal came via way of a Hume blunder that turned into an own goal at the 55-minute mark.

Red Devils player manager James Robinson was typically blunt in his assessment of the performance.

"(It was) not good enough, realistically," he said post match.

"Simple errors cost us - for us that was the big difference."

"You give up a 2-0 lead early and you're chasing uphill straight away - for me they were two easy goals."