It was an expected win for Chelsea Women as they fought hard to beat Palace ladies 3-0. Chelsea continued their unbeaten form winning five out of their six games in all competitions whilst Palace have lost their last two.
Chelsea applied pressure early on with Freya Holdaway producing two goal-line clearances and Lucy Gillett producing a string of fine saves to keep Chelsea at bay. However, it was a chance at the other end when Mosengo latched onto a through ball only for it to curl over the bar which looked the most promising chance at that stage of the game. Palace continued to defend well with Carter’s long-range drive rattling against the crossbar before the half time whistle. It took Chelsea a matter of minutes in the second half to take the lead as a low cross evaded Gillett and Bethany England tapped it into an empty net. Palace responded well with a chance again from Mosengo however a tame shot caused little trouble to Telford. Moments later, Bethany England doubled the lead as she headed the ball from Cuthbert’s free-kick into the bottom corner of the net. In the 76th minute Drew Spence slotted it home after being set up by England to extend their lead to three goals to nil.
“I’m absolutely pleased with the girl’s performance” said Freya Holdaway, the captain of Palace ladies who admitted that “the girls have been struggling of late”. Palace did not give up however as they produced a fantastic piece of one touch play which ended in Rutherford’s shot ending high over the crossbar and resulted in being the last chance of the game.
“The biggest thing we can take from this is the fact that we can compete against teams like that” said Holdaway. Next up for Palace is a game against London Bees whilst Chelsea will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten form against West Ham.
By Daniel Lambert
