WYRE Forest Phoenix played their first pre-season friendly of the summer when they drew 2-2 against Knowle on Sunday.

They stepped up their preparations for their second season in the West Midlands Regional League with a good work out.

They travelled to Premier team Knowles with 10 of the team’s squad of 16 available due to holidays, work and injuries.

Knowle started the game as the more attacking team for the first 20 minutes and it was pleasing to see how well Phoenix were defending and coping with the pressure.

The team then started to settle and create chances and on 35 minutes Kirsty Roberts scored after linking up with Molly Maguire.

The second half was much like the first and within minutes keeper Tracy Evans was called upon, but was seen by the referee to bring down a Knowles player in the box and had to face the resulting penalty.

The shot was fired high, rebounded off the cross bar and was cleared by the defence.

New signing Rebecca Carter had an excellent game on the right midfield.

She doubled Forest’s lead after good work by Kat Meredith and Roberts.

Knowle got a goal back shortly after when a midfielder latched onto a long ball and, with just the keeper to beat, made it 2-1. They then managed to level the game with five minutes to go with a well-placed free kick.