Norwich City Women maintained their unbeaten run in the FAWNL Division One South East, but could take just a point away from their home clash against third-placed Worthing.
After a prolonged spell without fixtures for the Canaries, there was no time to dust off the cobwebs as they hosted a strong opposition in Worthing at The Nest.
A seasonal grey sky and gentle drizzle welcomed the two sides on Sunday morning and the dreary weather manifested a cautious opening quarter of an hour, with little to write home about for either side.
As customary with the Canaries, the first bright sparks manifested in the wide areas of the pitch. In the 17th minute, Rachel Lawrence asked the first question of Lauren Dolbear with a high looping effort that was well claimed.
Two minutes later it was Megan Todd tormenting on the opposite flank, first forcing a strong glove before the subsequent effort was deflected wide for a City corner.
The momentum continued and came to swift fruition in the 23rd minute through the familiar face of Ellie Smith. Alice Parker whipped a delightful ball in from the right side for Smith to dive in bravely ahead of Dolbear to open the scoring.
Worthing continued to put some good phases of play together and caused most of their problems from the set-piece. In the 35th minute, a searching corner found an unmarked Worthing head in the penalty area, but the yellows were saved by a rattling crossbar, drawing a close to the first-half chances.
Norwich emerged from the tunnel in the second half continuing to play the better football. Lawrence and Todd both had teasing crosses go begging around the hour mark, whilst a solitary and speculative effort from Izzy Glass-Oliver caused Sarah Quantrill little problems.
Play remained cagey and both sides slipped into a basketball-like counter-attacking gameplan as legs tired. In the 74th minute, it would be another testing Worthing set-piece that became the Canaries’ undoing as the ball bundled in off of Emily Linscer following a scramble in the area.
Despite the best efforts of Norwich, backed by the rallying of the near-250 in attendance at The Nest, the game would end a point apiece.
Norwich City Women: Quantrill, Parker, Flye, Todd (Symonds 68), Smith (Hailes 71), Snelling, Larkins, Knights, Morran, Lawrence (Tomlinson 84), Strauss
Subs not used: Shaw, Pernet
Goals: Smith (23)
Worthing: Dolbear, Glass-Oliver, Blakely, Young, Linscer, Winchester, Rowe, Humphrey, Bell, Quayle, Albuery
Subs: Newton, Tibble, Hodgson, Keegan
Goals: Linscer (74)
Attendance: 249