THE Staffordshire Scorpions came from two goals down to rescue a point with the last throw of the game.
Dimitri Chambers scored twice in the last minute to stun a strong Birmingham side and keep Staffs in the hunt for third place.
The Scorpions started the stronger and were soon ahead through captain Carly Edwards as she picked the ball up to beat her defender and score following good work from Nick Thursby.
They doubled their lead minutes later when Chambers picked the ball up on the half way line and ran to goal unchallenged, finishing low beyond the Birmingham keeper.
Birmingham pulled one back after their attackman fought off the Staffs defence to win a ground ball four yards out and shot immediately to score past Stephen Jinks in the Staffs goal.
The home team restored their two-goal advantage when Marcus Howe picked the ball up from Thursby’s saved shot to run through a crowded fan and shoot powerfully past the keeper.
The Scorpion’s first half dominance continued at the start of the second period as James Perkins added a fourth. Perkins started and finished the attack as he completed a fine one-two with Edwards and got set free to finish in the top corner.
Birmingham made sure they kept themselves in contention as once again they found their pacey attackman who ran past their defender to finish low and hard giving Jinks no chance in the Staffs goal.
Staffordshire kept the pressure up and Anderson soon restored the advantage as he won a ground ball to run past two players and made no mistake with the finish when he was through on goal.
This sparked a Birmingham fight-back and they reduced the deficit by scoring twice in quick succession. The Staffs defence were unable to keep with the pace of the attackman as he ran past his marker twice to get both goals.
The away team soon levelled up matters as again their pace showed through, this time the attacker ran through the defence to score in the top corner from six yards out.
Staffs regrouped after half time and regained the lead through Chambers as he converted a penalty after Birmingham were penalised for a stick check. The defender made no mistake as he shot past the keeper before the defence could catch him.
At this point the game was beginning to boil over as Staffs were getting increasingly incensed with certain refereeing decisions and they let it affect their concentration and Birmingham took advantage scoring three goals without reply and left the Scorpions needing two goals in three minutes to save the game.
The home side put Chambers forward in an effort to salvage the game and he duly delivered, scoring almost instantly to gain his hat-trick.
This left under a minute to find the equaliser and after a strong attack from Staffordshire the away team got penalised for having too many defenders in the fan giving Chambers the opportunity to equalise from a penalty.
The defender didn’t disappoint and made no mistake as his powerful shot left the keeper stranded with the last throw of the game and only 10 seconds left on the clock.
Staffordshire: Stephen Jinks, Dimitri Chambers, Thomas Jenkins, Rick Gunning, David Downs, David Grice, Mimi Roch, Nicola Steadman, Berti Spain, Carly Edwards ©, James Perkins, Rich Christon, Ben Bradley, James Anderson, Jack Tew, Nick Thursby, Kelly Stone, Izzy Wilding, Elle Morrison.
Man of the match: Nick Thursby
Women of the match: Kelly Stone
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