Illawarra Stingrays held to home draw by flying NWS Spirit

The Stingrays fielded a strong line-up pre-match on paper, with A-League Women players Danika Matos and Sasha Grove making their first starts in the team for the season whilst Sarina Bolden, Chloe Middleton, Michelle Carney and Sakura Nojima also started from the off.

They came up against a strong NWS Spirit side who featured recent ALW champion and Sydney FC captain Natalie Tobin.

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The Stingrays returned home after going down to leaders APIA away the week prior.

Heading into the match, Steve Gordon's side were 12^th on the ladder and faced a stern test in the form of the fourth-placed Koalas - who were unbeaten in their past six matches heading into the contest - but with a win, they could have jumped as high as eighth.

The side was in relatively decent form aside from last week's APIA loss, having won two on the trot prior.

And it was their top scorer so far this season Carney that opened the scoring inside 10 minutes with a header from close range to give the Stingrays the best possible start.

Despite dominating proceeding after the Stingrays were costly at the back, with NWS Spirit given the opportunity to equalise in the first half via a penalty.

Rola Badawiya stepped up to take the penalty but Aimee Hall was heroic in goals for the Stingrays. Making the save initially, Badawiya came in for the follow up and got the ball over the line, but was judged to have fouled the goalkeeper in doing so.

But in the 37^th minute, Badawiya made amends as she made the score 1-1 at the second time of asking.

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She was a constant threat throughout the first half, with the striker forcing another save from Hall at the conclusion of the opening stanza.

But the scores were locked at 1-1 going into the sheds.

As the match moved into the second half, NWS Spirit came out of the blocks and even nearly took the lead almost straight away after having a shot hit the crossbar.

Mary Stanic-Floody was the next to sting the palms of Hall in goals and Spirit were humming approaching the hour mark.

As the game approached the 80^th minute, it was anyone's for the taking.

Neither side could really manage and clear cut chances in the second half other than the early rattling of the post by Spirit.

And in the end, the scores remained at 1-1 at full-time, meaning both had to settle for a draw.

Next week the Stingrays will be away from home against Macarthur on Sunday May 28. Kickoff 5pm.

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