Swindon Town Ladies 2
Exeter City Ladies 2

Grecians earn last-gasp draw in Wiltshire

Exeter City Ladies battled to a 2-2 draw away at Swindon Town, who kept up their undefeated streak in the early stages of the 2014/15 campaign.

The game got off to a poor start for the Grecians – a goal was conceded after just five minutes, and then nasty head collision between defender Sophie Russell and a Robins forward saw the game halted for a lengthy period.  Both players were substituted, meaning Courtney Butt was introduced to action.

That meant for a change in formation for manager Roger Bonaparte – and the switch appeared to favour the visitors, as Exeter began to come to life.  Half an hour in, chances began to come thick and fast for Exeter and Lola Garcia Sanchez and Helen Kukor both came close – the latter had an effort cleared off the line.

Persistence paid for City when a delightful ball by full-back Carla Staddon found Kukor, and skilful bit of play by the forward allowed her to square for strike-partner Tash Knapman, who hammered into the roof of the net from inside the area to draw the teams level before the break.

As expected, Swindon brought the kitchen sink in the second half and a series of free-kicks and corners almost undid the Exeter resistance, but some great goalkeeping by Carley Barber kept the scores level.  City weren’t able to create too much until winning a corner, which was delivered by Kirsty Caunter and headed with power against the bar by Vicky Barter.  At the other end, Swindon were denied by the post and twice were denied goals by a linesman’s offside flag.

City felt like they had battled heroically for a point, so a 93rd-minute goal from the hosts felt heartbreaking.  But from the resultant kick-off, and with barely seconds to space, a ball upfield by Caunter was collected by Knapman who burst past her two markers and slotted inside the far post for a dramatic leveller – the full-time whistle sounded seconds later.

Match Report from Swindon Town website 


SWINDON TOWN - 2
EXETER CITY - 2

SWINDON Town dropped two valuable points when they were held to a three goals apiece draw with Exeter City in the FA Women’s Premier League Division One South West, writes Roger Reeves.

The Town opened strongly and were rewarded in the 5th minute when Ellie Maynard turned in Sarah Uzzell’s cross. Play then began to swing from end to end. Maynard went close with a free kick that the City 'keeper Carley Barber did well to push onto the bar and at the other end only a goal-line clearance by Chenise Austen prevented Helen Kukor from scoring. Eight minutes before the break, the visitors drew level when Helen Kukor opened up the Town’s defence for Natasha Knapman to run clear and score.

A Michelle Rich free kick soon forced Carley Barber into action but the 'keeper was saved by the post when Meg Attenborough’s header had her beaten. The Town were having more of the play and twice Meg Vella had the ball in the net only for her efforts to be ruled out for offside. With the game deep into injury time Beth Thompson cut in from the right to give the Town what looked to be the winner but straight from the re-start Courtney Butt ran clear to equalise with the last kick of the game.