Women’s football round-up: Struggling Palace suffer stoppage time loss against Spurs
Crystal Palace’s survival hopes in the Women’s Super League suffered a cruel blow on Sunday as they fell to a stoppage-time 3-2 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Katie Stengel and Ashleigh Weerden scored in the second half to cancel out a first-half brace from Spurs captain Beth England.
But Olivia Holdt netted the free-kick in the fifth added minute to condemn Laura Kaminski’s Eagles to their fourth straight league defeat.
The South Londoners, who have only won once from their first 12 games, are four points from safety after relegation rivals Leicester City beat Liverpool.
Kaminski told Palace TV: “You can safely say that was a very good second-half display.
“At half-time the players took on the information we gave them and as soon as the whistle blew for the restart, they put in a performance that we’re really, really proud of.
“They did everything I asked them to do. People came on and impacted the game in a calm, controlled manner, not just all guns blazing, which was exactly what we needed. But once again, we were punished in the dying moments, and we’ve got to defend those situations better.
“In the first game of the season against Spurs, we lost 4-0. That was a rude awakening into the WSL. Today, we took a quality side like Spurs right to the death.
“It’s cruel to come away with nothing, but that’s football. We’ve got to believe we’ll put sides on the other end of that as the season progresses.”
Chelsea strengthened their grip on the Super League title with a late victory over rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Guro Reiten scored from the penalty spot in the 84th minute – after Lauren James was brought down in the box by Arsenal captain Kim Little – to secure all three points for Sonia Bompastor’s side.
The Blues are 12 unbeaten at the start of the season under the French boss and seven points clear of title rivals Manchester United.
I’m really pleased with the result,” said Bompastor.”It was really fine margins. These performances are on the edge. It can go one way or the other way but it went our way which I’m really pleased with.
“If you analyse our performance, it was a tough game. We didn’t control everything but were able to score the goal that gave us a great result.
“We have not won anything yet, so we need to keep the right mentality.”
The Blues capped off the weekend by announcing the signing of US defender Naomi Girma for a world-record transfer fee of around £900,000, exceeding the £685,000 Bay FC paid for Zambia’s Racheal Kundananji last February,
Girma, 24, has joined Chelsea from San Diego Wave on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
Girma said: “I’m so happy and really excited to be here. It doesn’t feel real.
“There are a lot of things about Chelsea that made me want to come here – the culture, the winning mentality, staff and players. It’s a top environment to learn and grow in.”
Charlton Athletic picked up back-to-back wins in the Championship after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sheffield United on Sunday.
Charlotte Newsham, Ellie Brazil and Issy Hobson all found the net for Karen Hills’ side as they closed the gap to two points to league leaders Birmingham City.
The Addicks, fifth in a congested Championship table, host Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.
Millwall Lionesses were hammered 5-0 at home to Dartford on Sunday afternoon.
Ted Jones’ side have only lost twice in their last 11 games in all competitions and saw their highest attendance of the season over the weekend with more than 200 at St Paul’s Sports Ground.
PICTURE: ALAMY