Crystal Palace Ladies FC

An under strength U13s Reds met at Hillside to face Wimbledon in a game that Wimbledon had to win to maintain their title aspirations, as head to head results may become important in the final reckoning. With 2 players unavailable, Emily showed great courage to take the keepers gloves and Elizabeth filled in at right back.

The game began in strong swirling winds, and CPLFC were under significant pressure from the outset, and having failed to clear the ball went one down after 5 mins to an excellent shot which any full time keeper would have struggled to reach. Despite this set up CPLFC began to exert pressure on the wings but could not convert this pressure into solid chances as Wimbledon focused their attention on tight man marking of the always dangerous Rebecca and Elle. Wimbledon sole outlet of a long ball to their tall striker was paying dividends as the conditions affected ball flight and bounce, and CPLFC were victims of occasional defensive hesitancy, but chances for our opponents were few and far between.

What was far more frequent was the constant stoppages in play required to deal with the actions of the Wimbledon manager and his assistant who seemed to think it was appropriate to engage in discussions with the CPLFC players and the linesman, and the referee displayed a level patience which was superhuman at times.

When CPLFC had the ball, their efforts to pass from front to back were thwarted by a combination of conditions taking that ball out of play and decision making, passing the ball to marked players, and on balance Wimbledon had the majority of the possession and pressure, but the makeshift defence dealt with this well.

The half finished 1-0 and in chances for both teams were minimal and the game was of poor quality.

The second half continued in much the same way, the initial minutes a combination of long balls from both sides, and as in the first half the physical side of the game was on display, the referee endeavoured to let the game flow when the offended team had the ball despite the ongoing harranging from the Wimbledon staff some of their supporters, and again, the referee had to stop proceedings to deal with the actions of these adults, the most shocking being a visit onto the field of play from a parent to talk to one of the Wimbdledon's players which in the spirit of allowing the game to continue without another pause the referee chose not to make an example of, but will no doubt put in his report.

Chances again were few and far between, with the Wimbledon keeper called into action to parry a couple of decent low shots from Rebecca and Mia Q and Emily making a smart stop with her feet to keep out a onrushing attacker.

With pressure building on both sides, Rick threw players forward and India was very unlucky to see a short on the turn from a cross go over the bar and Elle hit the side netting from a tight angle, however with no avail, and the game ended in defeat for CPLFC

Whilst Wimbledon won the game, and credit to them for seizing their opportunity against an under strength CPLFC side, the behaviour of the Wimbledon staff was not good enough, there is no reason for any manager or assistant to engage with opposition players, voluably disagree with the officials, criticise volunteers running the line and not uphold the spirit of respect and fair play, as it sets a very bad example to both players at the formative stage of their football education, and has obviously been accepted as the norm by some of their supporters.