iPhone 5C Touch Screen issue when using certain parts of screen

TLDR; iPhone 5C screen not responding in the area of the keyboard where the letters B, N, H, J are (goes all the way up the screen) rest of the screen works fine. I have tried cleaning the connectors and changing the screen but this has not fixed the issue. Metal plate that goes over connectors missing was missing when shipped, could this be the issue?

Basically, I ordered a phone off eBay and it arrived today. The only issue that was described was that the screen did not work in certain places. I thought okay, maybe it just needs a new screen. So I ordered one from iFixIt.

I transferred everything carefully over to the new screen, it powers on great and looks amazing and the touch works, but not in the same places as the old screen

When the phone arrived, I think it had been a victim of a really bad repair. The glass was coming away from the digitizer, the bottom screws were missing and so was the plate and screws that goes over the screen connectors.

Could the lack of plate mean that the touch cable be the problem?

I have cleaned the connectors with isotopic alcohol and this has not helped.