Women’s football round-up: Addicks look to bounce back against Lionesses – Palace host Aston Villa
Charlton are at home to London City Lionesses on Sunday in the FA Women’s Championship (2pm).
The Addicks lost 2-0 at Durham on Sunday, their first reverse of the campaign.
Molly Sharpe converted Ellie Christon’s cross to give Durham a 27th minute lead.
Charley Clifford and Charlie Devlin went close for the visitors but the Wildcats, top of the table, doubled their advantage just before the break as Katie Startup failed to hold Lisa Robertson’s long-range effort.
Charlton sub Ellie Dorey saw a shot come back off the post 13 minutes from time.
Addicks captain Grace Coombs said: “We were frustrated with the result, obviously we don’t want to lose any game.
“But we think it will come, we were getting in the right places.
“Every time we play Durham, it’s always a tough game, always a battle.
“They’ll be up there again but we’ll be looking to compete at the top of the table but many teams have improved over the summer and a lot more sides will be in it.
“It’s going to be really competitive and we won’t probably know until next year who is going to be in and around it.
“We’ve got a lot of new players, probably the most changes since I’ve been at the club. We are still getting to know each other, we have a lot of young players too, it will come and we’ve got faith it will come.
“It’s only been our second game, we’re looking forward to getting more games, build some momentum and get positive results.”
Crystal Palace host Aston Villa tomorrow.
The Eagles got their second point on the board with a 1-1 draw at Lewes last weekend.
Bianca Baptiste hit the post for the South Londoners, who took the lead when Ashleigh Goddard followed up after keeper Faye Baker spilled Ella Rutherford’s cross.
Jess King levelled a minute later.
Palace boss Dean Davenport said: “Coming to Lewes is difficult, so of course I’m pleased with our effort.
“I felt either side could have won it. It was a pretty open game at times, and we definitely deserved to get something out of it.
“We weathered the storm a little bit in that early period, but all the work we’ve done in the past four or five weeks around being compact and difficult to break down came to fruition and defensively we were excellent.
“My girls threw themselves at everything that came their way and, but for a little bit of composure and maybe some luck, we could have won it.
“Bianca’s hit the post, Ash has popped it over from close range and it’s on moments like that a game can change.
“You must remember though we’re still at an early stage in terms of this group after bringing in 11 new players over the summer. All the early signs show me that we can be a real presence in this division this year, and results like today show we can compete.”
To follow the action, buy tickets and sign-up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com
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