Ladies battle for a last minute draw

Hertford Ladies 1 opened their league season with a well earned draw 2-2 against tough competition.

Off the back of two convincing wins Hertford 1s started their first league game full of hope for the new season.

Stortford were a well established side, dominant in the premier division of the 5 Counties in past seasons, and it showed, as they caught Hertford off guard in the first two minutes, converting their first short corner.

Hertford didn't let their heads drop and battled in defence as Stortford looked for another goal. Stalwart defending from Nicola Estherby and some sensational saves by Lianne Warnell kept them at bay until just before half time when Stortford scored their second.

In the second half, Hertford needed to raise their game, to stop a confident Stortford side. Playing out of position, Bev DeAgostini held her own in central defence, ably guided by the experienced Teresa Bartram to prevent Stortford from scoring another.

The hard work paid off around the 57th minute when the ball began to work its way out of defence to Molly Hobson who moved the ball to Leah Wilkinson giving her the chance ran at pace at the Stortford defence, committing the keeper and slipping the ball to Helen Owen who clinically finished at the back post.

Stortford were riled and piled the pressure on, forcing more saves from Lianne, but the composure of man of the match Laura Sharman prevented Stortford from putting the game to bed.

In the dying seconds of the match, Hertford gave everything they had to save the game. Countering a Stortford attack the ball was cleared from the Hertford D, finding Helen Owen located deep in Hertford's half. Helen ran confidently at the opposition, finding pace whilst others legs were tiring, hitting a fine strike from the top of the D into the bottom corner, to steal the win from Stortford… we may well have already scored the goal of the season.

Hertford 2 Stortford 2