Brentford Women 2 Dartford 2: Phillips' late penalty hands Bees point in LSE Premier draw
Brentford Women 2 Dartford 2: Phillips' late penalty hands Bees point in LSE Premier draw Brentford Women fought out a tough 2-2 draw with fellow London and South East Premier title challengers Dartford on Sunday. Katie Gilligan opened the scoring at Bedfont Sports Club, her first goal for the club. The visitors responded to go 2-1 up during the second half, however an added time panalty to the Bees saw Maddie Phillips step up and secure a point for the hosts.
In the rain in west London the start of the game reflected a clash featuring two teams near the top of the table, both sides bringing a high intensity to the opening 10 minutes. The first real chance on goal came through Gabby Howell who launched a long-range strike at goal, however Saskia Reeves-Priestley was up to the task in goal for Brentford, tipping the ball over the bar as she back-peddled towards goal. On 16 minutes Wiktoria Kiszkis did well to flick on Reeves-Priestley’s goal kick to a breaking Ashley Cheatley who made her way into the box, however her shot was sent straight to Jade Charlton in goal for Dartford.
Carly Williams’ side went one better three minutes later as Gilligan scored her first goal in Brentford colours. Looking like she might fire at goal, Kiszkis instead played a neat ball to Gilligan inside the box, the midfielder turning and firing it goalward, finding the back of the net for the opener. With some momentum behind them the Bees continued to control the ball in Dartford’s half.
After Cheatley was taken down outside the box down the right side, Lucy Potter stepped up to take the free-kick and sent a dangerous cross to Kiszkis at the back post, but her glancing header was wide of the target. Kiszkis came close to scoring again as the half-hour mark ticked over. Running onto Ilana Harris-Walters’ cross from the right side, the forward looked to whip it into the top right corner on her first touch, but her effort was just wide of the goal.
Kiszkis was proving a hassle for the visitors and as half-time approached seemed destined to score. As Gilligan pushed out on the counterattack for the Bees from their box, Kiszkis found herself in space and received the ball from Gilligan in Dartford’s half, however before she could look to score once inside the box, a well-timed Dartford tackle arrived to save the day. Despite the west Londoners’ dominance, it was Dartford who went into the break with momentum.
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