St Roch's made the short trip across town to Garscube Sports Centre for their first away game of the season and returned with a hard fought draw after going down to 10 players just after the hour mark.
The ladies started the game brightly enough pressing and probing the Westerlands defence and their early positive play paid off after 15 minutes. St Roch's won a free kick in the centre of the park some 40 yards from goal. Centre back Laura Stevenson stepped up and launched one of her trademark, long range, free kicks into the top left hand corner of the net.
The ladies continued to press forward and 10 minutes later doubled their lead when Stacy Higgins latched on to Pauline Millard's pass through the home defence and coolly slotted the ball past the home keeper.
Westerlands hit back through Gio Arcari shortly before half time as St Roch's concentration slipped and from looking in control the visitors were now edgy and unsure of themselves.
Although St Roch's created chances to increase their lead it was Westerlands who continued to press in the second half and gained a crucial edge when the St Roch's skipper was shown a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity.
With twenty minutes remaining Westerlands capitalised on their player advantage when Wheeler equalised but St Roch's mounted a spirited rearguard action and held on bravely for the draw.
Reported by St Roch's Ladies Picture: St Roch's Ladies
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