We welcome back the chairman of the Palace Ladies, Richard Spokes, who brings us an update from the how the club got on at the weekend. You can follow the Palace Ladies on Twitter, Facebook and of course on their own website.
Last Sunday saw an important milestone reached by Palace Ladies. This will have almost have gone unnoticed from the outside, but for those working on and off the pitch at the club, it was an very important occasion.
As regular readers of TEB will know, Palace Ladies set out on an ambitious plan ahead of the 2014-15 season. It was to form four adult teams at the top end of our club. This is formed by two development squads designed to cultivate players from junior football towards the levels required at our first team. The final stepping stone between the two stages, being the first team reserves.
In order that we maximised our strengths, player capabilities and development opportunities, we have ensured that as many of the players are cross-registered between the squads as possible.
With the fixture list falling as it did, we had known for some weeks that our first team had no match this Sunday, but the three supporting teams all had matches against title contenders in their respective leagues. This allowed the use of the best available strengths in these key matches;
- Development Reserves v Fulham Ladies Reserves
- Development A v Watford Ladies Development
- Reserves v Charlton Ladies Reserves
Perhaps the best evidence of our unique club structure was seen when club captain, Katy Morris and our most experienced player, goalkeeper Sam Saint joined up with, and covered absences within the young Development B squad away at Fulham. The new Palace system working at its best.
The flagship game was, of course, a home game in the FA Women’s Premier Reserve League, where the Eagles entertained local rivals Charlton Athletic, who arrived on an impressive run of results and bidding for top spot in the league.
Palace started strongly putting Charlton under some intense early pressure. Mary Onianwa was causing the defence serious problems, always looking to exploit her skill and pace. One such foray saw Mary pull out wide to pick up a pass from Sarah Jones. The lively forward was close to beating the Charlton left back, however a good tackle resulted in a Palace corner. Angie Kiobel came over to deliver what was superb cross that was met by the head of centre back Alex Elson to give Palace the lead.
The hosts were in command and starting to play some lovely free flowing football, that resulted in a second goal shortly after the first. Again, from a Kiobel corner, this time not effectively cleared from the box, Nicha Dyett neatly tucked the ball home.
As Palace continued to tighten the screw, playing pacey, direct football designed to release the front two, a third goal became a real possibility. And so it was. It came as a result of an excellent pass from Stephanie Mann into the feet of Mary, who managed to round the keeper and slot the ball home to put Palace three up.
A rampant Palace secured their fourth from familiar circumstances when another corner from Angie allowed Nicha to put away her second goal of the game
The visitors, who appeared determined to put some form of respectability into the scoreline, continued to work had a good period of possession that resulted in the ball being worked out wide to the right. The Charlton winger crossed in a low driven ball that was met by their in-form striker who slotted the ball home to make it 4-1.
With Charlton very much needing half time, and some strong words clearly being given to the players, Palace knew that they needed to keep the momentum going into the second period, albeit were made to work hard for any reward.
Following a number of half chances, the final goal of the game was claimed by the irrepressible Dyett who broke through the defence and drew the advancing keeper, waiting until the right moment and chipping into the empty net.
Speaking after the impressive 5-1 victory, a watching first team coach, Dean Davenport stated;
That was a hugely impressive performance today, from a strong squad, against a good team. We were able to use the match to give players match time and the opportunity to keep momentum going during a stuttering league fixture period. The goals we scored today were good and showed some signs of our early season prowess and bode well for future games. The girls and coaching team should all be very proud.
Earlier in the day, boosted by strength from across the adult section, our Development A squad secured an impressive 3-3 draw against a very strong Watford team. This performance was matched by our youngest squad (with a little added experience this weekend) who put in one of their best performances to date, earning a hard fought goalless draw away at Fulham Ladies Reserves.
And so, our milestone moment was reached this weekend and very much proved that the ambitious plans undertaken at the start of the season are providing the results that they deserve.
A huge amount of hard work by everyone at the club is being rewarded and a foundation for our future has, very much been laid. Few other clubs at any level in the women’s game are able to boast as many adult teams, at such a level as Palace are turning out every weekend. And the beauty of it all is, beneath the four adult teams, we have fourteen junior teams, all waiting for their moment in a weekend like the last.
This weekend sees Palace Ladies at home to Bedford Ladies at Bromley Football Club on Sunday. The kick off at 2pm. Entry is £3 and all support is welcome as we look to keep the pressure on the league leaders.
Our reserves travel in the opposite direction to Bedford for their match.
Everyone at the club would like to thank those who continue to show their belief and faith in what we are trying to achieve.
We are Palace. And we are proud.
