In the first half, Newbury strikers hit the post, hit the bar, broke through on a number of occasions and had a splendid shot well saved by the Chinnor keeper. The Newbury defence was very solid with Sam Atkins and Leanne Saunders cutting out nearly everything Chinnor threw at them through the centre and Lauren Sheldon and Lauren Hanson covering the flanks. Amy Lambden in goal gave the defenders confidence with an assured display.

Newbury’s midfield dominated the opposition. Karen Churchill inspired the younger players around her with Zoe Lambden along side her in the centre and Sally Wright wide on the right giving good support to the strikers.

Newbury pressed the opposition 11 players with their 10, creating all the chances, but could not score. Chinnor had one chance and scored. Despite this, Newbury pressure told eventually when on 35 minutes a Chinnor player handled the ball inside the box and Leanne Saunders put away the resultant penalty kick with aplomb to the keeper’s right to level the scores 1-1. This was the half-time score.

In the second half, and now up to full strength, Newbury continued to have most of the possession and on the hour mark a fabulous passing move ended with Lily Chubb beating 3 Chinnor defenders down the right and firing a glorious shot to the far side of the goal to beat the keeper from 30 yards. 2-1 to Newbury and it was no more than they deserved.

Unfortunately, the strain of playing 10 against 11 for most of the first half began to take its toll on a number of the Newbury players who began to tire near the end and Chinnor began to put the ball through the defence more regularly – one of their attacks bore fruit and they equalised. Newbury almost snatched a winner at the death with a fabulous ball across the Chinnor box was missed by a whisker by the Newbury strikers. Newbury held firm for the remainder of the match to gain a very well deserved draw in their first outing of the season.