Canterbury 3 Chelmsford 3

Slazenger EHL

Premier Division

Canterbury 3 Chelmsford 3

A spirited Chelmsford fight back saw them share the points with Canterbury on Saturday.

For the first 20 minutes of this South East contest Canterbury were penned in their own half as Chelmsford dominated the opening exchange, with Becky Alltree producing some fine overlapping runs down the right hand side.

But for all their control, Chelmsford were unable to turn possession into goals.

Almost inevitably they paid the price when, in virtually their first foray into the opposing half, Canterbury found space behind the Chelmsford defence and an unmarked Jen Wilson had time to open up the scoring.

The visitors immediately upped the tempo and within two minutes drew level when a quickly taken free hit found Jess Chad, who cleverly made her own space in the D and fired past the Canterbury keeper.

Canterbury responded well and for the rest of the first half kept Chelmsford on the back foot.

Despite resolute defending from Hayley Heggie, Marie Arber and Ciara O'Brien it was Canterbury that took a 2-1 lead into the interval when they again found space at the back of the D and Jo Bryant had time to hit home.

Both teams started the second half in determined mood, with a fierce battle being fought in midfield, but it was Canterbury who broke the deadlock when Natasha Brennan converted a disputed penalty stroke to give the home side a 3-1 lead.

Demonstrating once again the spirit that has been in evidence all season so far, Chelmsford kept their composure and shape and continued to fight hard, despite the loss of England midfielder Lisa Wooding to injury.

Canterbury though had troubles of their own when England international Mel Clewlow was also injured and forced to leave the field.

It was Canterbury who found it harder to regroup and Chelmsford were able to capitalise on the space left in defence by Clewlow's departure.

Tracy Wilmore stepped up to the plate and hammered home a well taken straight strike.

Spurred on by some inspiring runs from England's Chloe Rogers, the team from Essex went in search of an equaliser.

From one of these Rogers' penetrating runs, Becky Alltree found herself in a one-on-one situation with the Canterbury goalkeeper and made no mistake with the ball.

With only two minutes remaining the scores were level and they stayed that way until the final whistle.

Though disappointed with the outcome Chelmsford once again showed great character in coming back from 3-1 down, and this will give them confidence in next week's game against Olton & West Warwicks at Chelmer Park (2pm).