Date | Sunday 13 March 2011 |
Match | Leverstock Green Ladies v Royston Town Ladies |
Competition | Eastern Region Women's Football League: Division One South |
Result | Drew 3-3 |
Royston Scorers | Probert(2), Mardell |
If points were being awarded for team spirit and commitment to the cause then Royston would be sitting near the top of the league. Once again they staged yet another remarkable come-back to draw 3-3 with the last kick of the game against a very talented Leverstock side.
With only eleven players available for selection Royston had to make a couple of positional changes that they had not bargained for and in the early stages it was the hosts were dominated the game, Leverstock’s highly mobile and skilful forwards put Town under tremendous pressure and it was no surprise that with 15 minutes gone they took the lead. Slowly the visitors began to make inroads into Leverstock defence and it was Jenny Probert who got on the end of a long clearance and out jumped their keeper to bring the scores level. Good link up play by Probert and Stacey Hassan gave Town another good opportunity but the ball was deflected wide of the target. This was closely followed by what was a clear penalty for Royston when Sharon Pinner weaved her way inside the box and was hacked down but the referee waved play on.
On the stroke of half-time a mistake in Town’s midfield let the hosts striker in for her second goal of the game. After the interval it was Royston who got the upper hand with some excellent attacking play down the right involving Hannah Mardell, Amy Shepperd and Leanne Buchannan which created chances for both Probert and Hassan. Royston were unlucky to go further behind on 65 minutes when Wendy Webster and Gemma Barlow thought they’d done enough to break-up Leverstock’s attack only to see the ball take a wicked ricochet which left the hosts striker clear to complete her hat-trick.
Royston however refused to give-up and in a storming closing ten minutes got what they deserved. A free kick from Marie Miller seemed to cause little damage until Probert fired in a brilliant half-volley from what seemed an impossible angle. With full-time rapidly approaching Webster made a surging run out of defence only to be fouled right on the edge of the box. Up stepped Mardell who blasted an unstoppable free kick into the top corner to make it 3-3 with there only being enough time left for the restart.
After the game Town’s stand-in manager Alan Barlow commented “I was so proud of the way they battled for everything and never gave up – there is a fantastic spirit in the team and they thoroughly deserved their point”.