Crystal Palace Ladies FC

With the U13 Blues playing their last, and possibly title deciding game of the season against Kempton prior, the Reds arrived at a boisterous sunny Hillside in great form, having reached their second cup final the week before, to play Colne Valley, a side that have been proven to very difficult to beat in prior seasons.

With the Blues parents and opposition making a sharp exit after the game, the Reds kicked off in a strangely muted atmosphere, with Rick giving Maya a starting berth on Right Midfield, in an otherwise unchanged usual starting line up.

The game started at a snails pace, with both team struggling a little to deal with a hard pitch and whilst Colne had some brief forays into the CPLFC half these were largely ineffectual, however some poor communication and hesitancy when dealing with the second ball caused some concern. CPLFC had the far more potent attacking threat with Maya, Mia L, Elle and Rebecca forcing the Colne Valley defence further and further back, and it was a matter of time before CPLFC got their first goal, a smartly taken effort from Rebecca from just inside the box, after a decent exchange of passing and pressure from the midfield.

It was obvious that Colne Valley were looking to undertake an exercise in damage limitation, however they were stronger in the centre of midfield, interestingly by not marking Elle as she pushed forward, they created and additional attacker for their long clearances, consequently putting Lucy, Emily and Hannah W under more pressure than necessary. Whilst time and time again the forward 4 of CPLFC created chances, with Mia L especially unlucky hitting the post, the game remained 1-0, and Colne were growing in confidence. India and Elizabeth came on, with the latter offering a more combative midfield and India harried and hassled the Colne defence and was unlucky not to score from a defection from a rushed clearance.

HT 1-0

The second half saw a re-organisation with Shola dropping to Centre Back, Lucy moving into midfield, and Maya and Mia L swapping wings. CPLFC began to control the game and some of the passing was excellent, with clever balls pushed between the Cole Valley Centre and right/left backs for the willing runs of India, Rebecca, May and Mia L, however CPLFC would not quite find the finishing touch that seemed to come so effortlessly against far superior opposition in the last weeks. Colne were camped in their own half but when they did breach the halfway line, often with clearances over the heads of the CPLFC defence, again panic descended as the CPFLC practically unemployed defence and goalkeeper failed to communicate with each other clearly.

With Mia Q introduced, Lucy was given a licence to push forward and demonstrated that she as a fair turn of pace with the ball at her feet, admittedly against fairly static opposition, and equally Hannah W made numerous surges from the back, however both were victim of the “Gary Mabbutt curse”, which results in defenders not being able to shoot straight !!! This lack of goals was certainly making CPLFC frustrated and all players save from Emily, Shola and Rebekah all were guilty of shooting when a pass was a better offer, or dribbling down blind alleys.

There was no surprise when Rebecca got her second (and umpteenth) of the season from a similar position as here first, and with 15 mins to go, the game was effectively over, Colne dropped back to the edge of their box, Mia Q was spraying passes over the pitch and Rick was rotating players and positions. Elizabeth found herself on the right side of an attacking 3 towards the end of the half and had a couple of good chances as CPLFC continued to carve out chances after chance, and were guilty on 3 occasions of not following up on shots as the Colne Valley keeper struggled to hold anything at the first attempt.

The game finished 2-0, another win, and CPLFC U13 Reds are still unbeaten.

This CPLFC team is a very talented bunch of girls, however hard work will always beat talent if talent doesn’t work hard enough. Colne Valley worked hard, and on another day, may have got something out of this game.