Chelmsford Highway concluded their league fixtures with a hard earned point against Olton at Chelmer Park on Saturday.

A victory for the home side would have seen them leapfrog their opponents in the final league position, but they had to be content with a point which saw them finish ninth, well ahead of the relegation place.

Both sides began well enough, showing their intention to go out and win the game and this led to the game swinging from end to end.

Chelmsford enjoyed the better of the opening 20 minutes and they took the lead when Natalie Hart powered in a shot from a well worked penalty corner.

Despite taking the lead, Chelmsford allowed their frustrations to get the better of them when several umpiring decisions went against them.

Olton then dominated the final 10 minutes of the half and Chelmsford's back line of Julie Parrott, Maria Merrigan, Marie Arber and Hart had to be at their best to keep the Olton attack at bay.

The second period began pretty much the same as the first had ended.

Olton enjoyed most of the possession and Chelmsford had to work hard to deny them any space or clear cut changes.

The visitors looked most threatening from set pieces and it was from one such routine that they drew level eight minutes into the second period.

A well rehearsed penalty corner routine found Rachel Crouch unmarked and she touched the ball into the net.

This spurred the Essex side on and they slowly but surely began to take over the game.

Jo Green and Sarah Fretwell both ran intelligently up front and were unfortunate not to make better use of several promising situations when they were just unable to bring the ball under control when put through with long balls out of defence.

As the game went on it looked more and more likely that it would be the home side that would nick the winner.

They went close to sealing the win when Green's shot hit a post five minutes from time.

As it was neither side could make a further breakthrough and the spoils were shared.

For the next month Chelmsford have to concentrate on the Premier League Cup competition now that the league has finished.

Chelmsford kick off this new competition with a difficult fixture at arch rivals Ipswich on Sunday.

Chelmsford Coach Pete Fordham will use this series of matches to blood some younger players as well as preparing for the Hockey Association Cup semi-finals which the team has also qualified for.

"It's a great opportunity to use all the squad players and introduce some youngsters who have been playing for our second team this season," said Fordham who added, "It's a question of getting the balance right and using these games as preparation for the semi-final too.

"We have had a satisfying season so far, and after staying up in our first year back in the Premiership, it would be a nice bonus to be successful in the major cup competition as well."

Julie Parrott (left), and Marie Arber (right), who turned in good defensive displays against Olton on Saturday.

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