Crystal Palace faced Birmingham City in a dramatic fixture which saw the final result be 3-3 after Palace came back from behind twice but were unable to secure the winner.
Crystal Palace Women travelled to Birmingham City for their fourth Women's Super League fixture of the season, in a match that did not begin in the Eagles favour. The game was end to end in the second half, finishing 3-3.
This game was expected to be tight and tense, with the two teams used to playing each other in the WSL2 last season. Birmingham are yet to pick up three points this season, and today only gained one.
Palace went 1-0 down after a defensive error from Allyson Swaby lead to Birmingham gaining the ball and passing to Océane Hurtré, who secured their lead in the first minute of the match. Hurtré is on incredible form for Birmingham this season, and was expected to be tough for Palace's defence to manage.
After last weekend's 7-0 defeat to Tottenham the early goal could have completely thrown the team, but Jo Potter's side persevered and showed their brilliance by coming back and earning a point on the road.
Match Review
Shanade Hopcroft secured Palace's first equaliser of the game, at the 30 minute mark, with a free-kick from around 40 yards out on the left which bounced before the keeper got a hand to it but fell back into the net.
Minutes later Palace were still relishing in the goal when Hurtré won a tackle from Jamie-Lee Napier and ran down the wing, with a clinical finish at close range on the left side.
In the second half Palace came out strong, with Bethany England leading their chances. A great chance from England was headed out by the Birmingham defence with later an incredible cross from Blanchard finding England's feet but going over the goal.
Not long after, with Palace really running strong on the attack, Lexi Lloyd-Smith brought the ball back up the pitch, passing to Sierra Enge who took a shot just outside of the box which England met on the rebound to secure her first goal for the Eagles.
Lloyd-Smith then thought she had secured the winner for Palace after an incredible run from the half way-line and a strong shot after a 1 on 1 with the Birmingham keeper. In the dying minutes of the game Birmingham just had more to give and overloaded the Palace defence to secure chances on goal.
At the 87th minute Birmingham broke through after a shot from Suzu Amano was deflected and secured the Blues their second point of the season.
Key Takeaways
Despite not walking away with the three points Palace hoped for and going behind so early on, there were promising takeaways from Palace's performance.
Firstly, this match saw Palace's attack stronger than ever creating more chances and addressing their weakness of the last few games. They secured a 2.44 xG and had 6 shots on target, with England having the most shots of any player on the pitch. This is encouraging as Palace needed to step up their attack in order to push for three points in their future WSL games.
Fans were pleased to see England's first goal for the Eagles, after her huge move to South London this summer came with high expectations from fans.
After just four games Palace sit with 5 points and are 8th in the league. This is not a bad start for Potter's side especially after facing two difficult competitors, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. They have already secured half of their points earned in their first top-flight season in 2024/25 when they were relegated.
While Palace did have the potential to secure three points with their chances in the second half, this is still a promising result after playing mid-week and with the squad attempting to bounce back from the devastation of last week.
