Crystal Palace Ladies FC

With our third, and final away fixture in the heartlands of Heathrow / Thorpe Park booked for a 2pm KO, the CPLFC U13s Reds got a bit of a lie in in return for a long journey best undertaken through London on the day of the London Marathon....

The match was expected to be a "dead rubber" with Colne not being able to improve their position in the table regardless of the result, and CPLFC keen to not suffer any injuries prior to the 2 upcoming Cup Finals. With Shola feeling ill, on morning of the game, but nonetheless traveling down to support the team, Rick resorted to placing Elizabeth at RB, Emily at LB and deployed Elle, Mia L, Rebecca and Hannah Mc in an attacking formation, and Lucy and Rebekah at CB and GK respectively.

The first 10 mins of the game saw Colne attack CPLFC with vigour and forced a series of corners, which were capably defended by CPLFC, notably Emily and Mia L clearing with strong headers, and slowly CPLFC began to exert pressure on Colne with good use of the wdith of the pitch.

Elle and Rebecca carved out some decent chances after being fed by Hannah Mc and Mia L and CPLFC had far the better of the possession after 15 mins, passing smartly through midfield, and it was no surprise to see Rebecca slam in from just inside the box from a pass from Elle to put CPLFC 1 up.

Spirited Colne did not drop their heads and despite being under pressure, with Hannah Mc, Elle, Rebecca and Mia L all having decent chances to score, the latter terrorising the Colne RB, and secured an equaliser against the run of play when corner from a defected short which hit the bar took a deflection, hit Lucy on the back and trickled into the net.

Soon after this Lucy had to leave the field feeling ill also and CPLFC were forced into a second unplanned substitution

Nevertheless, CPLFC continued to threaten Colne with every attack, and with the introduction of Maya and Mia Q, signs of their stout defence creaking were obvious, however half time came before CPLFC could restore a lead.

HT 1-1

The second half started with CPLFC obviously picking up the pace and working hard to get their advantage back. With Hannah W added to LB, a couple of early chances went begging for Elle and Rebcecca and CPLFC were caught on the break from a clearance which due to hesitation from Rebekah and Hannah W, allowed the Colne attacker to stab the ball home.

From this point rhe elated Colne supporters and manager were cheering on what could have been a repeat of their surprise end of season victory over CPLFC from last season and the girls were desperate to get the game back on an even keel.

The Colne keeper had a superb last 20 minutes of the game, blocking everything that was thrown at her from a distance from Elizabeth, Elle and Rebecca as shot after short rained down upon her. With caution thrown to the wind, Elizabeth began to act as a third foward and twice broke the Colne back line only to see the keeper pounce on the ball, and Mia L was incredibly unlucky to see a clever flick past the keeper narrowly miss. However with 10 mind to go, Elizabeth's persistence paid off and she slotted home from a short distance having seen her shot saved (again) by the Colne keeper.

At 2-2, Colne were still throwing the ball forward in the hope of latching onto a mistake, but Mia Q, Emily and and Hannah displayed fortitude to keep stay their positions and keep Colne at bay with a mixture of smart tackling and clearing header from the long throws.

CPLFC in return knew that a victory was essential if they were to keep their slim chance of winning the title alive, and with better finishing earlier on, could have had the game out of sight, but with a level of persistence and skillful play began to exert incredible pressure on Colne, with shots narrowly missing and crosses from Maya and Hannah which flew inches past the far post.

This pressure paid off and Elle completed a flowing move with a short rifled into the far bottom corner of the net, and to much sighs of relief, CPLFC went ahead again with 3 minutes to play, which was enough time for Rebekah to make a smart save from a good short from the Colne midfielder.

The game finished 3-2 to CPLFC, and post the Wimbledon result, where evidently Croydon capitulated, have finished the season in second place. Every player should feel proud of this achievement, and the progress they are making. With 2 Cup Finals in the offing, there's certainly an opportunity for the team to bring home some well deserved silverware !