Harrogate Hockey Club Ladies 1st XI frustrated by struggling Liverpool Sefton Hockey Club

Their first Vitality Women’s Conference North fixture after the league’s mandatory two-month winter break saw Lucy Wood’s team held to a 2-2 draw by opposition who had lost seven of their previous nine matches this term.

The Ainsty Road outfit never really got into their stride, showing the detrimental effects of that period of inactivity despite dominating possession.

The first half was a scrappy affair, with Harrogate unable to find much cohesion. They were guilty of a number of misplaced passes, mistimed tackles and failing to finish off the few chances they did manage to create.

As a result, they headed into the half-time interval a goal down after Liverpool won and then scored from a short-corner against the run of play.

A similar pattern continued in the second period, but with home frustrations mounting, two similar goals in the space of five minutes turned the game on its head.

First, Julia Corominas surged to the byline and crossed for Jacs Smith to register her first-ever National League goal.

This was swiftly followed by a second as Wood and Holly Oldham double-teamed an opponent to win the ball back in the Sefton 'D’ before Becky Sagar bundled home from close range for 2-1.

With time running out and their noses in front, ‘Gate only needed to manage the game and run the clock down, however a comedy of errors at the back gifted the visitors an equaliser.

A misplaced pass across the ‘D’ then the needless concession of a short-corner led to Liverpool equalising from the last play of the game.

“We didn’t play very well at all and yet almost stole the game,” skipper Wood reflected.

"Now we’ve blown away a few cobwebs we have to raise our game for a huge Yorkshire derby at Wakefield this week.”

Harrogate’s draw with Sefton sees them drop to seventh place in the table ahead of this Saturday’s trip to Wakefield, 2pm start.