Davenport’s defensive delight as Crystal Palace secure 3-1 win over FA Women’s Championship leaders Durham

Crystal Palace manager Dean Davenport was pleased with their defensive display as they beat FA Women’s Championship leaders Durham on Sunday.

Mille Farrow’s injury-time strike clinched the points as the Eagles jumped up to fifth position.
First-half goals from Bianca Baptiste and Siobhan Wilson secured a two-goal cushion before Becky Salicki’s goal halved Durham’s deficit but that wasn’t enough for the Wildcats to avoid just a second league defeat of the campaign.

Crystal Palace got off to a flying start and took the lead in the opening three minutes when Baptiste retained the ball at the edge of the box and struck a low effort into the bottom corner.

The Eagles came close to doubling their lead after Kirsty Barton clipped a perfectly-weighted cross over the Durham defence to put Wilson through on goal but she saw her effort parried wide of the post by Megan Borthwick.

Three minutes later, Palace extended their lead. Leigh Nicol executed a wonderful pass that sent Wilson clear and through on goal as her deflected effort went past Borthwick.

Another chance fell to Durham after some great work from Danielle Brown as she teed up Mollie Lambert, whose close-range effort was palmed away by Emily Orman.

Lee Sanders’ side came out fighting and almost got on the scoresheet through Beth Hepple in the 54th minute as she curled her free-kick inches wide of the far post. She tried her luck again with a curling powerful effort that forced Orman into an astounding save.

Durham continued to mount further pressure and pulled a goal back after Kathryn Hill squared the ball to Salicki, who tapped the ball into the empty net.

In stoppage time, Coral-Jade Haines latched on to a defence-splitting pass ahead of the onrushing Borthwick and found Farrow to slot the ball home and secure a valuable three points.

Davenport said “We’ve had a week where we had injuries and sickness in the camp, so it was difficult to put out a side that we knew were going to compete.

“The first goal is always important. I’m glad Bianca Baptiste scored it and she’s been an outstanding player for us today.

“The timing of the goal was fantastic for us and the second goal was even better. So for us to go in at half-time leading 2-0, it was the case for us to see what we can do in the second half.

“At half-time, we told them to keep playing the way we’ve been playing. That’s the way they got us into the 2-0 lead.

“The second half doesn’t always pan out as we would like them to. Our defensive display in the second half within our 18-yard box was outstanding because Durham do put pressure on you and they put balls in the box. They’ve got big players to try and connect from headers and set-pieces.

“We are a team that love to attack and have been giving some stupid goals. We had to stay compact, stay narrow and win everything that comes into the box.

“The key positive was our defensive display because we always score goals going forward with the players we’ve got. But defensively at times, it’s been questioned this season by teams outside of us and shown that we can defend as well as going forward.”

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PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD