It wasn’t a surprise Crystal Palace would come out at Kingsmeadow looking to at least drag us to a draw where they could squeeze out a win via penalties. But they did come out swinging from time to time with fast breaks, forcing Hannah Hampton to intervene every now and then while the team upfront wasted chances left, right and centre.
The Blues did “score” twice in the initial 60 minutes, but both times those were deemed offside. We needed a clear-cut chance out of a Palace player blocking a corner with her back to stop the flag from being raised, as Lauren James got us the opening goal.
We couldn’t rest on a one-goal lead as Palace were still trying to cause some trouble for us. The Blues continued charging forward looking for a second goal, with several opportunities going begging because of a misplaced pass or a badly taken shot.
In the very final minutes Palace went for the equaliser, with help from a referee that seemingly ignored their time-wasting tactics and almost let them get away with every little foul they tried against us. Still we prevailed.
Carefree!
* Aggie Beever-Jones starting upfront instead of Mayra Ramírez.
* Several big chances going to waste in the first half despite Palace putting their entire starting eleven in the box.
* Try as you may, Lauren James will get you.
* On to the semi finals!
* Next up: Manchester City in the Women’s League Cup final.
* KTBFFH