Southampton and Bristol City open the new campaign with a draw | OneFootball

Southampton and Bristol City shared the points on the opening day of the new Barclays Women’s Championship season with the two sides playing out a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s Stadium.

Aimee Palmer opened the scoring for Southampton early in the second half but managerless Bristol City fought back with Lexi Lloyd-Smith netting against her former club.

Both sides looked to create chances early on but neither were able to carve out any significant openings. In the 20th minute, Bristol City’s Amalie Thestrup delivered a cross into the area which found Lloyd-Smith but the ex-Saints player couldn’t keep her shot down as it cleared the bar. Another chance fell to The Robins later in the half but Abi Harrison fired wide.

Just before the break, Molly Pike was close to opening the scoring for Southampton. She reacted to Freya Gregory’s whipped ball in but her effort went just wide, keeping the game goalless at the end of the opening 45 minutes.

After a competitive first half, Palmer broke the deadlock for the hosts with a debut goal. The midfielder curled home a wide free-kick three minutes after the restart to gave her side the advantage.

Bristol City looked to respond immediately and they went close to an equaliser through Sille Struck’s header but her effort came back off the post and she couldn’t stick away the rebound.

The Robins got their leveller through summer signing and ex-Southampton player Lloyd-Smith. She fired the ball past Fran Stenson just after the hour mark.

Both sides pushed hard for a winning goal but the game ended 1-1 as the points were shared on opening day.

Southampton return to Barclays Women’s Championship action next weekend when they travel to Sunderland while Bristol City play host to Birmingham City at Ashton Gate.