SWINDON Town Ladies were denied a vital victory in the FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division as West Ham United grabbed a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Barrington Park.

Both sides, who started the day with six points each, have struggled so far this season as they occupy ninth and 10th place in the league standings.

Steve Robertson’s troops went into the game on the back of a heavy 8-0 defeat away to Cardiff City Ladies, while the visitors were held to a 1-1 draw by Portsmouth Ladies during their last fixtures.

But despite conceding a late equaliser, Robertson sees plenty of positives from his side’s performance.

“I’m not too disappointed in the way it finished, there are plenty of things that we can take out of it,” he said

“The girls didn’t really let West Ham create anything, on the whole we kept them quiet for the whole afternoon. 

“Six months ago I think we would have folded and lost again to be honest, I can’t fault the girls at all because they were superb today. 

“I’m happy with that, a point keeps them below us.” 

The hosts came out hard and got their reward when Michelle Rich put Swindon into the lead in the 18th minute.

From here the hosts were able to assert their dominance further when Chyna Collins found the net four minutes later.

The first half began to slow as windy weather conditions set in for the home side, but with seven minutes left to play, the visitors hit back through Molly Peters as they opening 45 minutes finished 2-1 to the Wiltshire outfit.

From here Swindon dug deep to deal with late pressure being applied by the visitors but were unable to keep their opponents at bay as they popped up with a 88th minute equaliser through Whitney Locke.