Norwich City Women were held to a goalless draw in a testing game away to Ashford Town on Sunday, March 12.
In a rather uneventful first half, neither side had many clear-cut chances, as adverse pitch conditions made it a difficult affair.
Opting for the long ball to keep it off the turf, Ella Gambell enjoyed running in behind in the early stages, coming close in the eighth minute after a lovely flick over the top by Rebecca Russell.
Bryony Williams had little to deal with, comfortably collecting a couple of long-range efforts from Ashley Cheatley in the first half.
Natasha Snelling and Freya Symonds relished some nice link up play but to no great avail in terms of a clear opportunity, in part due to some brilliant sweeper-keeping by Sophie Shults in the Ashford goal.
It became apparent towards the end of the first half that this was a game that could be won and lost on set-pieces and Norwich nearly proved this moments before the interval as Symonds and Gambell both had efforts blocked on 39 minutes following a corner routine.
On the stroke of half-time, centre-half Mary Croft had arguably the best chance of the first period after the ball dropped kindly to her from a corner kick but saw yet another effort blocked by a wall of tangerine.
The second half was a different game altogether.
Norwich flew out the blocks with two big chances early on. First, Gambell weaved her way through a swarm of Ashford players to find Snelling on the left-hand side. The forward cut inside onto her right foot and curled a wonderful effort to the far post, forcing an incredible save from Shults.
No more than five minutes later and Shults made an even better save. Norwich caught Ashford on the break, led by Symonds. She squared the ball to Knights on the edge of the box, but Shults was quick off her line to make another spectacular, sprawling save.
On the hour mark, Ashford caused a scare as Alissa Down whipped a free-kick narrowly wide of the top-left.
Whilst the game remained open and even, Ashford nearly stole it with 20 minutes to play as they were awarded a penalty. Aimee Durn brushed herself off after being brought down but rifled the ball wide of the left post from 12 yards.
Ashford turned frustrations into fight and began to pepper the Norwich City goal late on. Out of nothing, the hosts nearly won the game in spectacular fashion seeing a close-range bicycle kick rattle the crossbar with nine minutes to play.
Despite the lively second half, the points would ultimately be shared, with both sides walking away with the belief they should have had all three.
The Canaries will have a chance to improve on this outing on Tuesday night, when they travel to Cambridge City for an evening kick-off.
Ashford Town: Shults, Duncan, Kinnane, Neufville, Durn, Down, Johnson, Kassem, Cheatley, Wynne, Clarabut
Subs: Huse, Currivan, Constantine, Whitelock, Delvia
Norwich City: Williams, Ward (Parker 61), Larkins, Snelling, Russell, Knights, Symonds, Gambell (Stanley 69), Flye, Croft, Morran
Subs not used: George, Williams, Cook
HT: 0-0
FT: 0-0
Tickets to Norwich City's Carrow Road fixture against Ashford Town on Sunday, April 16 are available here.