Forfar Farmington dropped their first points of the season but remain top of the Scottish Women’s Premier League 2 after a 1-1 draw away to Hearts.
Jennifer Dodds’ first half goal put Hearts ahead and looked to be enough until Gemma Collier nodded home in the 87th minute to take a share of the spoils.
Mark Nisbet fielded the same team that defeated Glasgow Girls with the only squad change being keeper Chantelle McKay replacing Hannah Dryden as the sub keeper.
Forfar started off well with Nicola Davidson firing over from a distance before Gemma Collier was inches away from connecting with Julia Scott’s free kick.
Lauren Hall had Hearts’ first chance in the 11th minute but could only fire straight at the keeper. Scott did the same at the other end three minutes later as both sides started to settle.
Farmington could have taken the lead in the 17th minute when Scott’s corner was missed by the keeper but Kirsty Deans could only divert the ball over the bar.
Jennifer Dodds had a great chance to open the scoring when she met Ashley Carse’s cross but her header flew over. In the 28th minute she was provided with a carbon copy chance and the attacker stabbed the ball past McNicoll to give Hearts the lead.
This was a wake up call for Farmington and shortly before half time they came close to an equaliser with keeper Ashley Watson having to do well to save Megan McCarthy’s header and Deans’ 20 yard strike.
Katie Reilly blasted wide from long range as Hearts looked to kill the game early in the second half however Forfar began to take control of proceedings with Cheryl Kilcoyne seeing her effort blocked before Scott was inches away from connecting with a ball from McCarthy following a 50 yard weaving run from the defender.
McCarthy headed over from sub Kayleigh Noble’s corner before Deans fired wide of the mark again as Farmington looked to capitalise on the pressure.
With ten minutes left Robyn Smith sent her long range effort wide however in the 87th minute Farmington finally grabbed a deserved equaliser; Nicola Davidson’s free kick from the halfway line was flicked on by McCarthy and Gemma Collier was on hand to send a looping header over the keeper.
Mark Nisbet’s side kept up the pressure as they looked for a late winner however they were unable to break through the Hearts defence with the hosts also unable to carve out any clear cut chances.
The result means Farmington are still top of the league and are unbeaten in the first quarter of the season.
Nisbet was pleased to take a point away from a difficult venue as he felt Farmington weren’t at their best at Kings Park.
He said: “It was a slightly frustrating day for us; I thought we had a lot of the territory within the game and we put Hearts under a fair bit of pressure but we maybe struggled to create chances.”
“Sometimes you look at the game and you think is it a point gained or two points dropped and I think it’s a point gained as we weren’t at our best.”
Hearts: Ashley Watson, Sharon Hughes (Demi Summers 24), Stacey Hutchison, Georgia Hunter, Megan Paterson, Rachel Walkingshaw, Katie Reilly, Danni Pagliarulo, Ashley Carse, Jennifer Dodds, Lauren Hall
Sub not used: Gemma Piaskowski
Forfar Farmington: Fiona McNicoll, Gemma Collier, Erin Cattanach (Leah White 46), Laura Parsley (Kayleigh Noble 60), Robyn Smith, Nicola Davidson, Kirsty Deans, Cheryl Kilcoyne, Megan McCarthy, Julia Scott (Beth Shillitto 60), Alison Debio
Subs not used: Alana Bruce, Chantelle McKay (gk)