Nottingham Forest 1 (M. Johnson 19) Wolves 1 (Greengrass 46)
Wolves Women earnt a hard-fought point after drawing to Nottingham Forest Women at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon.
Melissa Johnson’s first-half strike gave the hosts the lead heading into the break, before Charlotte Greengrass tapped in a leveller against her former club just 30 seconds into the second half.
The point leaves Wolves in second place, three points behind Forest who sit at the summit.
Forest dominated the early exchanges with spells of good possession, and registered the first attempt of the contest through Freya Thomas. The midfielder picked the ball up on the edge of the penalty area and fired goalward, but Bec Thomas was equal to the effort.
By the 15th minute Wolves had grown into the game and began to push forward with extra intent. Destiney Toussaint came close when she connected with an Anna Morphet delivery with a flicked header that looked to be heading in, only to clip the post before Greengrass’ rebound found the side netting.
Despite Wolves gaining a foothold in the contest, Forest broke the deadlock in the 19th minute. Sophie Domingo broke through the defence and squared a low cross to Johnson, who snuck a low shot through Thomas’ legs.
Charlie Wellings nearly doubled the hosts’ lead when she received a neat through ball and arrived into the Wolves penalty area, before she dragged an effort just wide to Thomas’ relief.
The home side continued to boss the game with assertive possession that Wolves struggled to dismantle, while being limited to few chances to equalise.
Becky Anderson tried her luck from range when Emily Batty found herself out of position, but her ambitious strike was denied by Batty. Greengrass also went close on the stroke of half-time when a ball from a corner fell nicely on the volley for the forward, but her powerful effort missed the mark.
Half-time | Nottingham Forest 1-0 Wolves
McNamara’s words of encouragement worked wonders as Greengrass pulled Wolves level just 30 seconds after the restart. Toussaint did well to advance into the penalty box and played a low cross into a dangerous area where Greengrass was waiting to tap the ball home.
Wolves could have completed the comeback within five minutes thanks to a lightning quick start to the second half. Anderson’s smart first touch saw her arrive into the penalty area before firing goalwards, but Batty got down low to deny her effort.
Moments later, the ball dropped to Morphet 25 yards from goal and connected beautifully to send a blazing effort narrowly over the crossbar.
After a lively start to the second half, the game settled and Wolves were level on the scoreboard, nevertheless, now playing better than their opponents and creating chances to take the lead.
First, a scramble in the Forest penalty box broke out before Morphet got a toe on the ball, but her stabbed shot was lofted over the crossbar. Moments later, Hughes tussled with her marker and she found herself in shooting range, but her shot from a tight angle was denied by Batty.
Forest responded to Wolves’ good chances in the 82nd minute when Kate Longhurst struck the crossbar with a header after connecting with Millie Chandanara’s free-kick.
A hard-fought contest began to fizzle out with both sides feeling the effects of an intense 90 minutes and the referee’s whistle was met by a proud Wolves side after a well-earnt point away to top of the table.
Full-time | Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolves
LINEUPS
Nottingham Forest | Batty, Harkin, N. Johnson, Longhurst, Domingo, M. Johnson (Chandarana 70), Wellings (Turner 70), Olding (Haywood 70), Green, Thomas, Hamilton.
Subs not used | Ferguson, Bedeau, Sims, Bell.
Wolves | Thomas, Morphet, Simkin, George, Hughes, Greengrass (J. Cross 88), Johnson, Anderson, Toussaint, Jenner, Merrick (Roberts 84).
Subs not used | Clarke, Holmes, Loydon, Quigley, Smith.
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Report by Callum Greybanks
