SWINDON Ladies were not at their best as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Newent.

Swindon’s flowing game was regularly thwarted by a focused Newent team, who put Swindon under pressure in the first half.

The home team were rewarded early as they converted a penalty corner to go 1-0 up.

Swindon did rally, with Gemma Scrase combining with captain Vicky Stokes, but she failed to convert two clear opportunities.

These misses became even more costly when Newent converted another penalty corner with a straight shot that gave Swindon keeper Sarah Newman no chance to make a save.

With the interval approaching, Swindon upped their game and forced a penalty corner. A well-worked routine gave Linda Brouwers the chance to place a perfect shot past the Newent keeper to make the score 2-1 at the interval.

The second half started well for Swindon and it took only two minutes for them to draw level. A strong run by Gemma Scrase opened up the defence and her pass found Vicky Stokes in the circle. She made no mistake this time and smashed a first-time shot into the net to level the scores.

Both sides had chances to win the match, with Sarah Newman making saves to keep Swindon level, but the game ended 2-2.

Afterwards, Swindon’s coach Craig Sage reflected positively on the first half of the season.

“Remaining unbeaten has been a great achievement,” she said.

“Today’s match was a wake-up call. The team needs to improve their consistency and have more focus if they want to win this league.”