Lambourne & Nolan savour dramatic Cup redemptions

Women

15 Jan 2024

It’s not whether you make a mistake, it’s how you recover from it – and two Crystal Palace Women’s players produced heroics in the FA Cup fourth-round to exemplify just that.

Facing Blackburn Rovers in the fourth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Sunday afternoon, a hard-fought, goalless first-half gave way to an expansive, entertaining second period.

The script proved truly dramatic: after defender Hayley Nolan was caught in possession, Blackburn broke quickly and bundled the ball home via Meg Hornby to take the lead.

It looked set to get worse for Palace when goalkeeper Demi Lambourne brought down Georgia Walters on 66 minutes.

Then, two remarkable redemptions: Lambourne produced an outstanding save with her trailing leg to, somehow, turn Hornby’s penalty over the bar, and ten minutes later, Nolan displayed a striker’s instinct to pop up from a set-piece and turn home an equaliser.

Further goals from Elise Hughes and Molly Sharpe sealed a 3-1 win and saw Palace through to the next round – but from Lambourne and Nolan, it was an outstanding show of character.

“I think it switched the momentum a little bit. I needed to make the save after giving the penalty away!” Lambourne laughed.

“It was honestly a really good feeling. It was a team effort today, but it was nice to make the save.

“It was exciting for the fans to watch, but we made it hard for ourselves. The subs came on and made an impact on the game, and we scored another two goals.”

Demi Lambourne speaks after crucial FA Cup penalty save

Nolan agreed: “We’re delighted. To get three goals at home is important.

“We’re a bit disappointed with the way we started and played in the first-half, and to concede such a difficult goal in terms of a bit of a mistake, to bounce back was really important for us.

“I just try to get in the box and see if I can get on the end of a cross or anything – it was a bit of a tap-in, but I’ll take it as long as it helps the team!”

The defender also said of the Palace supporters in Sutton: “You could hear them all through the 90 minutes!

“It’s especially needed in these moments, especially when it’s hard to break down a team like Blackburn. To go 1-0 down at home, it’s really good to have the fans there to lift us up.”

The Eagles now face two away games against London City Lionesses in the space of four days: their first Women’s Championship game of 2024 on Sunday (21st January, 14:00 GMT kick-off), and then a decisive WSL Cup group-stage fixture the following Wednesday.

Moving forwards, Nolan reflected: “The league is really important for us and we’re excited to get started again next Sunday.

“We know we have to start sharper and then hopefully we can get some goals early and take the pressure off ourselves.”

Lambourne added: “I think we just need to start from the first whistle and not make it hard for ourselves. We’re good at coming from behind, but we want to score goals and put the game to bed early.”

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