Salford City Lionesses drew 4-4 away to Tranmere Rovers in the North West Women’s Regional League.
The Lionesses were coming off the back of a 2-1 defeat in the FA Cup against Bolton and looking to get back to winning ways whilst Tranmere were still on a high from their 9-0 demolition of Pilkington FC.
The first chance of the half came for Tranmere in the second minute but it was an easy catch for the Salford keeper.
At the other end, a good bit of build-up play by Salford led to Tara Duce having a first chance on goal but the Tranmere keeper came to collect before she could get her shot off.
Moments later, it was the Lionesses who seized the lead. Safron Newhouse opened the scoring for the visitors as Battle squared it to Salford’s number 6, who slotted it past Size in the Rovers goal.
Three minutes later, despite a dominant bit of possession from the hosts, Salford doubled their lead, this time the goal scorer became the assistant as she set up Duce for a sublime volley just 10 minutes in.
The first corner of the half for the home side resulted in a good opportunity for them to claw one back but the skipper’s header was just wide.
A poor clearance from the Lionesses keeper almost halved their lead as Anya McCready stuck out a foot blocking the clearance. The ball rolled across the face of the goal much to the relief of the young shot-stopper.
The keeper was called into action once again as a Tranmere corner was delivered into the box but she dived to her right to deny the hosts.
A free kick just outside of the area for Salford was delivered well by Hutton and looked to be sneaking into the far bottom corner. It took Amelia Size at full stretch to prevent the visitors from getting a third.
Despite what the score line showed, Tranmere looked a threat on the right wing with the pace of Bowers Folan but the Lionesses dealt with her well as the first half marched on.
Rovers clawed one back five minutes from halftime as the Salford keeper spilled into the path of Arrowsmith who tapped it into the empty goal.
In the opening five minutes of the second half, Salford struggled to get out of their own half as Rovers pushed for an equaliser.
As Bowers Folan made a run and got in behind the Salford defence, it was the Captain Hutton who came across to clear the danger.
In the 57th minute, Tranmere’s pressure paid off as Jones, who had had a good game, nestled it into the bottom corner and dragged Rovers back level.
The Ammies responded well though and four minutes later they took the lead again. A lovely cross from Robinson picked out the run of Battle who chipped it over the Rovers shot-stopper and into the goal.
But there was still more drama to come as Arrowsmith latched on to a Smith free kick and the back of the net rippled again. Rovers were once more on even terms.
The game was becoming much more physical as neither team looked to settle for a draw.
Salford were pushing forward again and a handball just outside the area led to a free kick for the Lionesses with less than ten minutes on the clock. It was a fantastic delivery by Duce and although the Rovers keeper got her fingertips to it she couldn’t keep it out.
Tranmere managed to dig deep and draw level again in the final throws of the match as Salford failed to clear their lines in injury time, ending the contest at 4-4.
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