Nottingham Forest Women rounded off their FAWNL Northern Premier Division preparations with a hard fought 1-1 draw at home to Watford FC Women in the final pre-season friendly.
Charlotte Greengrass headed home a late equaliser as Forest impressively battled Championship opposition in some incredibly challenging conditions at Eastwood CFC. Frequent downpours interrupted the flow of the game, but the Garibaldi showed a never say die attitude to level late on.
The Reds needed some grit to dig in during a torrential shower in the first half as both sides struggled to build attacks. It took Forest just over half an hour to threaten, Becky Anderson narrowly missing from the edge of the area. Immediately after, Amy West tried her luck from similar range and forced the first significant save of the match.
Watford responded by raising the tempo and looked to be in a good position to open the scoring until a last-gasp sliding tackle from Olivia Cook. The centre back won the ball magnificently in the area, and cleared any danger, ensuring the game was scoreless at half-time.
Forest started the second half brightly. LJ O’Neill popping up with a neat effort at the far post, following a corner, which called the Watford ‘keeper into making a good save.
As the conditions cleared, the game dramatically livened up and Watford forced Aja Aguirre into a phenomenal save when a lose ball fell to an unmarked Hornet 10 yards out. Shortly after, Cook made another goal-saving challenge as Watford enjoyed their best spell of the game.
Aguirre was called into action once more just after the hour mark. The Canadian smothered the ball bravely at the feet of an onrushing attacker when a goal seemed the most likely outcome. But the Watford pressure eventually paid off. Aguirre saved an initial goal-bound shot, however the rebound landed straight on the head of a supporting Watford attacker.
As Forest pushed hard for an equaliser, Anderson curled an effort at goal that won a corner with time ticking away. The Watford players tried several times to clear their lines, eventually conceding a free-kick wide to the left of the box. As the ball was floated in, the Watford goalkeeper was caught out as Substitute Charlotte Steggles and Greengrass both leapt into the air. It was Greengrass who got the decisive touch as Forest pulled level with seconds to go.
Post-match comments
After the game, Head Coach Andy Cook said: “Regardless of the result we all had to play the conditions out there, just to get through the first 45 minutes was a challenge. So, it was a tough game, but we are happy with the way we played even in those conditions.”
With the season just one week away he was pleased with how the preparation has gone, saying: “Pre-season has been good overall. We need to make sure we are ready for next week, ready for those first few minutes and if we can get settled and play our game we will do well.
“We are here at Eastwood next week, hopefully with much nicer weather than today and we can promise a really tough performance from ourselves. If we can get the ball down and play hopefully, we can entertain and score some goals as well.”
Goalscorer Greengrass described the moment she went up for the equaliser, saying: “Becks swung it in, and me and Stegs both went up for it. I think the ‘keeper was underneath Stegs, and I just thought this is going in. I headbutted Stegs right on my chin, so I got a nice bruise for it, but it looped in.
Line-ups
Season Cards
Nottingham Forest Women kick-off their FAWNL Northern Premier Division campaign on Sunday against Huddersfield Town (kick-off 2pm) at Eastwood Community Football Club.
Forest Women have launched season cards for the very first time and you can help support Andy Cook's side by purchasing yours here.