It always feels melodramatic when you say that two sporting teams are fighting for survival. Today at Eastwood that didn’t feel too far off the truth as both Nottingham Forest and Doncaster Rovers Belles scrapped their way to a hard-earned 1 -1 draw.
The Eastwood pitch an artificial surface with a decent covering of rubber crumb that was sent flying every time the players made passes or clearances. It wasn’t the only thing that way flying as the tackles came in hard and fast.
The referee did at times allow the game to carry on but was made to make two contentious calls that could have cost either side the game.
The two sides met earlier in the season with both teams yet to find their way in the division. On that occasion, it was Forest who ran out comfortable winners with a 3-1 win. The Belles must have worried that a repeat performance was about to happen.
On that October afternoon, Forest took the lead in the first minute. In this game, Forest took slightly longer but they were in the lead half way through the second minute a Trina Greeves shot across goal found its target.
Neither team settled perhaps with points at a premium neither side wanted to be the first to concede ground. The midfield was marshalled well by both sides. That changed towards the end of the first half as the Belles broke through the Forest defence and Chloe Bethell with a surging run was brought down by Grace Walters.
With another defender alongside Walters and the goalkeeper to beat it looked like a straight forward call for a yellow card. The referee felt otherwise and sent the Forest defender to the stands.
It was a harsh call. Forest was the stronger team in the first-half their physicality and willingness to win the second ball was key.
The side from Doncaster grew in belief in the second half and they did look to use their player advantage in the second half and it worked to a degree. The killer ball rarely came; it came from a mistake by Forest keeper Rebecca Thomas. who could not get low down quick enough to a Lauren Breen shot and the ball squirmed under her.
Forest carried on their assault of the Belles goal and it nearly paid off with the 90 minutes coming to an end. It was Forest midfielder Graves who on the ball in the area seemed to tumble under minimum contact and the referee pointed to the spot.
If the roles were reversed Forest would have felt hard done by. The Belles players didn’t complain and had faith that Emily Batty would save the spot-kick. That she did as the as Charlotte Griffin’s shot was comfortably saved.
Its a result moves the Belles outside of the bottom two places, while Forest remain unbeaten since the league’s return at the start of January. Both sides will take both positives from this game but they will be well aware that they have a lot of hard work to come in the following months.
No comments:
Post a Comment