Points Shared Away At Sporting

Knowle battled hard to win a point away at Solihull Sporting last week, but for long periods it looked as though they may hold out for all three.

The Robins started well, with Marsha Malik's ability to run at the heart of the opposition defence leading to opportunities for Demi Rolph and Natalie Gibson, but the Sporting keeper saved well. It was therefore something against the run of play when Sporting went ahead; good play by the left winger gave her the space to get a cross in and although her cut back missed the intended target, the opposite winger was following in well and hammered a shot past Jess Jenkinson in the Knowle goal.

The goal clearly gave Sporting heart and they piled the pressure onto the away side.  Hayley Joynson's strong performance in central midfield meant Solihull had very little space to operate in there, so they began to bypass the area and play direct to the forward, whose speed and skill caused problems for Knowle. Jenkinson had to make a smart save and Maz Byrne pulled off a vital tackle to stop a certain goal. 

After weathering the storm however, the balance of play swung in Knowle's favour. Their equaliser was route one football in truth; Jenkinson's huge kick was picked up by Rolph and she flew past the defender and slotted a tidy finish past the Sporting keeper.  They were millimeters away from another goal within less than a minute; Morgan Betteridge's free kick dropped towards Sam Smith for a tap in, but the faintest of touches from the defender nudged it away from her head.  Knowle did go into the lead before halftime though; Yvette Dolphin won possession in midfield and played Malik in on the right side.  She slotted her pass to Rolph who again finished well to give Knowle a 2-1 lead at the break.

Sporting came out for the second half determined to get back into the game and much of the second period was full of sustained pressure from them.  Jenkinson produced two fine saves to keep her team in it, and Naomi Henry hacked one off the goal-line.  Sporting were always guilty of wastefulness when a couple of gilt-edged chances were blazed over the bar by the centre forward who surely should have hit the target at the very least. 

Knowle's chances came on the counter attack; in particular Rolph was agonisingly close to a hat-trick after being sent clear by Katie Adams.  She rounded the keeper but then rolled her shot right across the face of goal from a tight angle.  Malik then thought she had grabbed an all-important third goal; she collected Betteridge's square ball on the edge of the box and fired her shot into the bottom corner, but the linesman's flag  shot up as she wheeled away and the strike was disallowed.

It looked as though Knowle would weather the storm, with defenders clearing everything in and around the box and Jenkinson mopping up attempted through balls with relative ease.  However in the 92nd minute they did not get the line right and were caught out by a chip over the top.  Sporting's forward could not be caught before producing a cool finish to give her side an equaliser.

2-2 the final score and Knowle had to settle for a point, but at least will be pleased with the performance in comparison to previous weeks.

Knowle: Jenkinson, Adams, Henry, Smith, Byrne, Betteridge, Dolphin, Joynson (Phelps, 58), Gibson, Rolph, Malik.  Subs unused: Keen, Smallwood, Donnelly, Morris.