Crystal Palace Ladies FC

The development reserves travelled to Guilford in determined mood looking to galvanise the squad further and prove that they have what it takes to be successful at this level.

It has to be said that the girls set about their task in a positive way and looked to penetrate their opponents with pace and strength right from the start. The Guilford goal was peppered with attacks only to find a keeper in form, however, the deadlock was broken on 12 mins when Anais Reynolds strolled out of defence and hit a reverse pass into the area that was met by the head of Tyra Wilson to knock down to Okasia Brown to fire home.

On the 22nd min the floodgates opened as Palace tore the Guilford midfield apart with a great team goal that started with captain, Lucy Baker, feeding Abi Denne, she spread it wide to Ella Aylett to hit a fine cross that Keely Nazareth buried at the far post. Nazareth then added her second with a fine solo run before Alice Fuller set Tyra Wilson free through the middle, Wilson composed herself and calmly slotted home for 4-0. Guilford then delivered a dangerous free kick that Hannah Donnelly expertly caught under pressure, left back Sadiye Yilmaz then completed the first half scoring with a fantastic overlapping run and cross shot to give us a commanding 5-0 lead at half time.

A major highlight of the half was the assured way that Ash Marchant slotted into a defensive position, for the second week running she defended very well and looked calm and composed on the ball starting many attacks with her accurate passing into the feet of the midfield and attack.

Our girls were slow out of the blocks in the second half and allowed their opponents a goal back immediately but they soon got back into their stride when Browns shot was saved but Wilson slammed in the rebound for 6-1, Guilford pulled another one back as they looked to get back into the game but then Bekki Keyte began to become a real influence against a tiring defence.

First she latched onto a Connie Lowman pass to finish with aplomb and then a through ball from Fuller allowed her to complete a brace and seal the game at 8-2.

To be fair, the scoreline could have been a lot higher if not for an excellent performance from the Guilford keeper and some poor finishing at times from our girls. What is clear to see is that the girls are looking determined to push further forward this season and maintain their form and fight for each other until the end!