SWINDON Ladies were knocked off the top of the Premier Division 2A table, despite battling back to draw at Salisbury.

The visitors, who are now a point behind Newent, started the match slowly and invited pressure onto themselves, allowing Salisbury to net a scrappy opener.

But Swindon upped their game after falling behind and following some excellent link-up play from Rachel King and Julie Lewis, leading to a strong run down the left-hand side of the pitch from captain Gemma Scrase, the ball was crossed for goal-hungry Victoria Stokes to reverse-stick the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

The visitors continued in the ascendancy in the second period, with Linda Brouwers and Charlie George dominating the midfield, and they were unlucky not to convert their chances, hitting the post twice before Salisbury struck to make it 2-1.

But immediately from the push back, Lynsey Wall threaded the ball down the line to Stokes, who rounded the defence and laid the ball back to teenager Chloe Lewis, who shot through the goalie’s legs to ensure the spoils were shared.

Skipper King, whose side host Marlborough tonight, said: “We battled hard but it’s a shame we didn’t convert all our chances.”

n SWINDON Ladies 2nd were in seventh heaven last weekend as seven unanswered goals handed them their seventh victory in a row.

From the off, the hosts piled the pressure on City of Bath 2nd and Kim Taylor smashed home to open the scoring.

Sum Roberts and Mary Goldsmith linked up well to get a shot away and after that was saved, Kayleigh Warman converted the rebound to make it 2-0.

After a string of short corners, a Bath player took a hit to the head after deflecting the ball off the line and from the resultant penalty flick, Goldsmith struck the post.

After that, Gemma Court slammed home and Nicci Foster-Kenyon finished well.

In the second half, Emily Arrell teed up Taylor for her second of the match and after Michelle Harding notched from a shot corner, Taylor grabbed her hat-trick with a cheeky finish through the opposition goalie’s legs.