Palace Women's 2023: A year to remember

Women

31 Dec 2023

At the midway point of the campaign, Crystal Palace Women have not only advanced in both the League Cup and FA Cup, but also sit just two points off the top of the Women’s Championship table – with a game in hand still to play.

As the calendar turns over into 2024, read on for the Eagles' 2023 highlights…

Celebrating Women’s Football Weekend

Off the back of a record-breaking campaign, the Eagles concluded the 2022/23 season by recording a second consecutive top-five finish.

And while results were mixed in the first half of 2023, one particular highlight in March saw Palace’s then-third highest attendance – and biggest in Bromley, over 1,700 fans – turn out in support over Women’s Football Weekend, as Molly Sharpe’s sweet finish sealed a 1-0 win over Blackburn.

Special guests, free match programmes and posters, a family-friendly feel and plenty of optimism surrounded the occasion – and not for the first time in south London in 2023…

01 / 05

Palace’s new era

The summer rang in an off-season of vast change in south London, with a move to a new ground, Sutton’s VBS Community Stadium, ahead of 2023/24.

Also celebrated by Palace fans were the appointments of Grace Williams as the club’s new Head of Women’s Football; Laura Kaminski as the new head coach; Adam Jeffrey as the new assistant coach; and eight new players donning the red and blue for the very first time.

A chapter of change – but one with results both immediate, and spectacular…

History-making results

This season in the Championship, the Eagles have scored a division-high 35 goals in just 11 league matches, averaging well over three goals-per-game across all competitions.

They have scored six goals or more on three occasions, and three goals or more an incredible eight times out of 14 matches thus far.

That goalscoring run was kickstarted by a club-record 9-1 over Durham Women in September – a performance later named the Utilita Performance of the Week, a national award by the League Managers Association, with judges including Sir Alex Ferguson, Rachel Yankey and Clare Tomlinson.

Which brings us nicely onto…

Top of the charts

Not only do Palace boast the competition’s top scorer (Elise Hughes, with a stunning 12 goals in 11 games) and joint-second top scorer (Blanchard, with seven in eight)… they also feature the Championship’s chief creator in Fliss Gibbons, with seven assists in eight games!

Awards galore

Take your pick: Palace have not only won Championship Goal of the Month for every month so far this season (Annabel Blanchard for September, Araya Dennis for October and Shauna Guyatt for November)...

... but Blanchard also scooped the Player of the Month trophy for September and Kaminski the October prize for Manager of the Month.

At this rate, they’ll need a bigger trophy cabinet – but there’s one at…

Selhurst Park sets more records

Back in November, Palace and Southampton played out a thrilling game at Selhurst Park after a club-record 4,442 ticket sales!

And although the match – which ended 4-3 to the Saints – did not go Palace's way, the family day out at Selhurst also saw plenty of games, giveaways and other entertainment in and around SE25 to mark the brilliant occasion.

01 / 10

With Palace Women’s next date at Selhurst recently-announced – Sunday, 24th March 2024 – we have our target to beat!

What’s more, fans booking before 23rd February 2024 can enjoy a 50% off ‘early bird’ discount – just click here to grab your tickets now.

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International acclaim

For top scorer Hughes, Palace's goalscoring feeling has translated to the international stage, with the forward scoring her first-ever senior goal for Wales, against Iceland earlier this month.

The likes of Alexia Potter, Guyatt and Araya Dennis have also hit the front foot for England’s youth sides, whilst Anna Filbey, Hayley Nolan and Chloe Arthur have been recognised with selection for Wales, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland respectively this year.

Paige Bailey-Gayle, meanwhile, became Palace’s first-ever female player to earn a call-up to an international tournament finals, when she was part of Jamaica’s history-making squad at the 2023 World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand.

Laura Kaminski’s verdict

As head coach Kaminski said herself: “This season has gone really quickly, but what a fantastic start we’ve had. It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through!

“I think the group have done fantastically well, and we’ve worked really hard to get into the position we’re in. We’ve still got a long way to go this season, so we have to stay focused and really concentrate on the task ahead of us.

“For me, I’ve always known what every single player here brings to the table, and I’ve always known as a group what they’re capable of achieving.

“This group play some fantastic football, so we’ll look to really progress, hold on to that and crack on in the next half of the season.

“There’ll be some hard work going in over Christmas so that we come back in 2024 nice and fresh. We don’t want to come in dusting off the cobwebs – I want to come in ready to go.”

Palace Women kickstart their 2024 at home to Blackburn Rovers in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, 14th January – get your tickets via cpfc.co.uk now!

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