Myers saves the day as Women’s Hockey keep Durham to a draw

Loughborough Women’s hockey club had goalkeeper Laura Myers to thank as they settled for a hard fought 1-1 draw against Durham on Wednesday.

Hannah Pike’s second half short corner goal cancelled out Durham’s own short corner effort with both sides having further chances to score, but neither managing to convert.

Durham dominated the first half as the home side struggled to play out from the back and were constantly penned in with Durham pressing high up the field. The Loughborough defenders consistently failed to find their midfield and forward targets high up the pitch, adding extra pressure as Durham came back at them at every opportunity.

The visitors had several very good chances to score, but goalkeeper Laura Myers had other ideas as she made several high quality saves to deny Durham the first blood. Durham did have the ball in the back of the net only for it to be ruled out for an earlier infringement.

Eventually, the pressure paid off as a well worked short corner was turned home towards the end of the first half. The visitors had been the far better side throughout the opening period and deserved their half time lead.

The purple army emerged a different side after the interval, finding it much easier to move the ball in the increased space higher up the pitch. The home side gained confidence from this and pushed for an equaliser but that killer pass or half a yard of space just was not appearing.

However, this intense period of Loughborough pressure did yield a goal as Hannah Pike popped up in the area following a short corner to level the encounter for the hosts.

The game increasingly opened up following the equaliser and both teams continued to try and find a winner.

Heading into the last ten minutes, it seemed certain that there was still a deciding goal to come from either team. However, neither could muster a clear cut opportunity and the final whistle blew leaving both sides rueing missed chances; Durham in the first half, and Loughborough in the second.