Sunday, 7th October 2007

Crystal Palace 1 - 1 Brighton & Hove Albion

The Eagles welcomed Brighton Ladies to the Leaf stadium last Sunday following their losses in the league cup against Premier Opposition the previous week.

Team news for Palace saw 'skipper Becky Merrit sidelined as well as forward Claire Williams who was also struggling with an injury. There was a return to the team for Karly Dunmall who started alongside Laura East in the centre of midfield and a return to the team for co-captain Sarah Walters who took her place in the centre of the Palace defence.

Brighton started the match positively and for periods of the first half looked more like the home side. Their first chance came after Palace failed to clear a corner and presented a chance to a Brighton player who failed to hit the target. The first half was a stop-start type of affair with the referee having to stop the game to deal with some ugly tackles from both teams.

Brighton took the lead in the 25^th minute when Palace cleared a corner, which fell to a Brighton player who managed to lob 'keeper Kelly Cooper with an overhead kick. Palace had a chance to level the game almost immediately when Beth Curtis broke clear, but she could only fire wide of the target.

The scoreline remained the same going into the break with neither side managing to create any more opportunities.

The second half saw the introduction of Kenne Oguneye, who pulled Palace level almost immediately after coming on. Palace then press further but could not break a well-marshalled Seagull's defence.

The game then began to open up, and it adopted a cup-like atmosphere with both teams trying to win it. Brighton did manage a half chance but Kelly Cooper in the Palace goal was quick off her line to stop the danger.

In the final minutes of the game Beth Curtis broke clear of the Brighton defence and was hauled down in the box for what was a certain penalty, however as like in recent matches, Palace were once again hard done by another poor refereeing decision and the final whistle blew at 1-1.

Palace manager Quinton Naidoo commented after the game:

"I was extremely disappointed by our performance in the first half, we allowed Brighton time and space on the ball, and you can't afford to do that with any team in this division.

"There's no point moaning about decisions we did not get - in truth we had chances to win the game today and should have taken them. I am looking for a much improved performance on Thursday night against Millwall.

"We are going to have to be at our best, not only are we in a local derby but Millwall are top of the table and will buoyed by their midweek victory over Portsmouth"

Squad: Cooper, Moore, Newbound, Walters, Whitcombe, Poole, Dunmall, East, Stewart, Curtis, Barker

Subs: Oguneye: Eldrigde