Crystal Palace Ladies FC

Our girls travelled to Guilford as favourites, despite their continued injury problems this afternoon to take part, in what turned out to be, a crazy semi-final that gave us the entertainment of a typical cup tie for 90 mins followed by sheer domination in the 30 mins added on time.

With stand in keeper Tyra Wilson in goal Palace got off to an absolute dream start and found themselves ahead after 1 min straight from kick off when the ball found its way back to Lucy Baker who fed Alice Fuller in the midfield, she split the host defence with a ball through to Okasia Brown to finish with composure for 1-0, this, however, was very short lived as Guilford replied instantly to equalise in the 2nd min with a stunning strike from the left winger. Palace saw, immediately, that they were up against a spirited side determined to take advantage of their chance to reach a final and realized that they were in for a tough afternoon. Palace restored the lead in the 19th min when another defence splitting pass, this time from Ash Marchant set Bekki Keyte on her way, she slotted to the side of the advancing keeper to make it 2-1. Having not learnt from the first goal Palace immediately succumbed to another equaliser when they switched off and allowed the striker in behind to smash home. Following a host of missed chances from the away side both teams trudged off locked at 2-2

Guilford started the stronger in the second half and soon found themselves ahead through an unstoppable shot in the 53rd min, this truly stunned our girls and they tried to come back with maybe a little too much anxiety, passes became rushed and chances snatched at. Things were not looking great with Abi Deene struggling with a groin injury and Keely Nazareth a knee problem but they were unable to be rested due to the lack in depth of the match day squad. The hosts nearly killed it off in the 75th min with a long range strike that Wilson dealt with admirably, this was a pivotal moment as Brown smashed an equaliser 8 mins from time to take the tie into extra time. With Keyte now struggling with a chronic cramp problem it looked to be a tricky extra time period with 3 players playing through the pain barrier.

Following a tweak in formation with Connie Lowman dropping deep to allow Sadiye Yilmaz to get forward and the struggling Deene slotting in at centre half allowing Lexie Spokes to energize the midfield the girls started extra time in fine style and totally dominated the final 30 mins against an absolutely shattered Guilford side, it was obvious they had given their all and sadly had no more to give allowing Palace and their superior fitness to shine through. Brown slammed in for her hat trick which she followed by two headed goals from corners delivered by Spokes to complete an impressive 5 goals, Nazareth completed an amazing hat trick within 20 mins and Spokes chipped in with a fine strike from the right to complete a nervous but ultimately comprehensive victory.
In summary massive credit has to be given to Guilford who gave everything for 90 mins but just failed to kill the game off, their efforts made for a fantastic and typical cup tie. From a Palace point of view it was great to see the club pulling together allowing Spokes to drop out of the reserve squad to help us with our injury concerns and the girls battle together even when things weren’t going their way, Deene, Nazareth and Keyte did an amazing job playing through the pain for their love of their team and club and many chances were missed due to good goalkeeping and poor finishing but it did not deter them as they continued to create in difficult conditions and deservedly booked their place in the final.