Women’s football round-up: Palace suffer narrow defeat to rivals Brighton and Wimbledon put five past Milton Keynes
BY GINA BAGNULO
Crystal Palace manager Laura Kaminski blamed “sloppy mistakes” for their 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Eagles as it was their first game since securing their inaugural Women’s Super League win over Leicester City the previous weekend.
It was understandable that hopes were high for Palace as they headed into their first WSL match on their home ground, Sutton United’s VBS Community Stadium.
Palace’s defeat was not for the lack of trying but their luck turned half an hour into the match when Brighton forward Bruna Vilamala capitalised on a long kick from Jelena Cankovic.
The goal was a controversial one as Palace keeper Shae Yanez was knocked to the ground in the process.
“I am disappointed because I feel like we definitely deserved to take something from it”, said Kaminski.
“It does prove that sloppy mistakes in our 18-yard box cost us dearly. With the players’ performance today, they applied themselves well.
“They applied the game plan well and they showed togetherness. The subs had a great impact.
“It was a great team performance again, which we had against Leicester, but unfortunately we didn’t take anything away from it.
“With the first two weeks that we’ve had, we’ve made significant improvements and learnings from those two weeks. It shows we deserve to be in this league – we looked like a WSL side today.”
Palace are eighth in the table and travel to Liverpool on Sunday (2pm).
It will be a blast from the past for Annabelle Blanchard and Katie Stengel, who played for the Reds.
Charlton’s unbeaten run at the start to the 2024-25 Women’s Championship came to an end on Sunday after a 2-0 defeat to local rivals London City Lionesses.
Second-half goals from Isobel Goodwin and Sofia Jakobsson saw the Addicks suffer their first defeat of the season.
London City, who are based at Bromley’s Hayes Lane stadium, moved up to second in the table and above Karen Hills’ Addicks.
“You’re always disappointed after losing a game,” Hills told Charlton TV. “I don’t think it was a 2-0 game. We have gifted them the first goal and then they gained momentum from that.
“We went chasing and got caught on the transition.
“They’re a good side and we needed to be a bit braver on the ball. You’re always going to come up against tough and challenging moments in the season, but it’s about how you bounce back from it.
“I have a group of players who I know are together.”
AFC Wimbledon claimed a resounding 5-0 win over Milton Keynes in the FA Women’s National League South.
The Dons took the lead after 22 minutes through Cherelle Khassal and doubled their advantage a minute later through Kau’inohea Solomon-Taylor.
Solomon-Taylor bagged her brace in the 53rd minute before Ellie Dorey scored Wimbledon’s fourth nine minutes later.
Khassal wrapped up the victory in the 68th minute.
Millwall Lionesses claimed their first three points of the London and South East Women’s Regional Football League season.
Sophie Chapman’s brace inside the opening 15 minutes earned a 2-1 win at Sutton.