Needham Market missed out a massive three points as a late comeback from Cambridge City saw both sides share the spoils at Bloomfields.
There were plenty chances in the first half but only Annie Posnett’s early composed finish separated the sides at the break.
Posnett added a second and Needham looked comfortable, but a calamitous last 10 saw captain Laura Bloomfield sent off and Cambridge scoring the resultant pen from Faith Harrisonbefore a quick-fire equaliser from Tye Smith.
Off the back of the 3-0 scoreline it wasn’t surprising the away side started full of confidence, but they were hit with a well worked goal when Keira Topple slide in Posnett, and she buried in the corner.
Cambridge hit back and last week’s hat trick hero Harrison hit the post before former Needham Defender Lexi Pryke crashed the bar from a close-range header off the corner of bar and post.
After that it started to settle down and Needham had the better chances to double the lead as Topple went through and blazed high before missing a couple of other narrow long range efforts as she put in a very lively first half performance.
The best chance though landed to Posnett as she raced through from another Topple intricate through ball but this time she was denied by the keeper just before the break.
Needham had to weather an early storm at the start of the second period and soon started to look threatening with Posnett adding her second from a sumptuous strike 20 yards out.
And although Cambridge had pressure there was very few alarms for Needham to worry about until the game entered the last 15 minutes.
First Clarke made an excellent save from a corner and then they were denied on the rebound but after protests and a chat with her linesman the ref gave a penalty and no other choice but to send Captain Bloomfield off for handball on the line.
Harrison scored the penalty and there was still plenty of time to hold out and sadly they couldn’t when Smith got some space on the left edge and curled one beyond Clarke.
Both teams went in search of a winner with Becca Stephenson coming closest for Needham, but it was Cambridge that saw a last-minute clearance off the line from Elise Wade that made sure the damage didn’t get worse.
The result will feel like a loss after Needham controlled most of this game and a point in this relegation battle may not be quite enough.
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