Purdy sisters on target for Larne and Ballyclare

Zoe opened the scoring for Larne at Foundry Lane, but Jade had the final say when her late strike secured a 2-2 draw for Vikki Milligan’s girls.

The draw leaves the two east Antrim teams adrift at the foot of the Senior League Section 1 table approaching the halfway mark in the campaign.

Zoe Purdy got the Larne girls off to a fine start when her skilful reverse-stick shot flashed past Sara Coulter in the home goal in the 10th minute.

Suzanne Dickey, Jaquie Hanley and Milligan were prominent for the hosts, who had territorial advantage for most of the time, but the visitors doubled their lead through Teah Maguire after a well-worked a counter-attack.

Ballyclare spurned a great opportunity to reduce the deficit when awarded a penalty stroke, but Larne’s keeper, Trish Neill, made a stunning low save to deny Jade Purdy.

Approaching the interval, Dickey fared better when she darted into the circle to beat the diving keeper, with a shot in to the roof of the net.

With full-backs Kerry McLeod and Lorraine Ashcroft in splendid tackling form, goalie Coulter had an easy time in the second half, but despite being on top, Ballyclare had to wait until seven minutes from time before securing a point, when Jade Purdy angled the ball into the net from a Milligan pass.

Keeping up the momentum, Hanley almost stole the points at the death, only for Neill to produce another crucial save.

Ballyclare Ladies’ panel: S Coulter, G McMaw, J Purdy, K McLeod, L Ashcroft, R Beattie, C Darragh, E Wilson, V Milligan (C), S Dickey, J Hanley, R Campbell, J Jones, E Gamble.

Larne: T. Neill (c), N. Kempton, R. Dalton, S. Mills, L. Booth, R. Beggs, S. McGookin, G. Rennix, L. Snoddy, Z. Purdy, G. Russell, C. Greenwood, T. Maguire, A. McFall.

Elsewhere, Larne Seconds lost 2-1 at Omagh Ladies in Junior Three. Anne Snoody scored their only goal.

In round two of the Junior Cup, Pegasus Thirds defeated their Larne counterparts 3-0.

Fixtures: NUIG away (Irish trophy); Larne II v Ulster Elks III.