Remi Allen bundled in a last-minute equaliser after a goalmouth scramble to give Reading a deserved share of the spoils after a dogged second-half display at Brighton.

The Royals hit the front early on when Fara Williams curled in directly from a corner in their Barclays FA Women’s Super League encounter.

But the hosts hit back before the break, Aileen Whelan heading home before Ini Umotong put them in front.

And it looked like the Royals might not get a leveller until Allen’s last-gasp intervention.  

Williams had given Reading the lead direct from an in-swinging corner in the 15th minute but Brighton were only behind for four minutes.

Whelan headed home from Kayleigh Green’s cross from the right to get the home side on level terms.

In a physical first half Lea Le Garrec sustained a head injury from a Reading free kick, while Bowman was on the end of a late challenge by Amalie Eikeland. The Reading striker received the first yellow card of the game as a result.

And then Umotong rode a challenge before calmly finishing past Reading goalkeeper Grace Moloney after being slid in by Le Garrec.

Five minutes into the second half, Brighton had a penalty shout as Le Garrec fell in the box under contact from Mayumi Pacheco, but no foul was given.

Reading were the better side in the second half, their best chance fell to Eikeland. A poor clearance by Megan Walsh found Eikeland 25 yards out but her shot, with Walsh out of her goal, drifted wide.

 Brooke Chaplen also struck the bar from the edge of the box with Walsh helpless.

Just when it looked like Reading might miss out on a share of the spoils, a goalmouth scramble deep into injury time saw the ball fall to Allen who held her nerve and fired in a late leveller.

Fara Williams said: “I’ve been practicing them throughout the season. We’ve been quite successful from our set pieces this season so it’s something we practice and luckily it went in this time.

“I think if you base it on chances created, I think we dominated chances created. We were too sloppy in the first half; we didn’t execute our game plan and we found ourselves behind at the half.

“Credit to the girls, showed a little bit of fight in the second half to get that goal back and come away with a point.”

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