Jay Patel was pitchside at Hayes Lane to capture the action as Crystal Palace met Birmingham City in the Barclays Championship this afternoon (16/4/23).
Above: Crystal Palace’s Polly Doran (centre) looks on this afternoon. Photo: Jay Patel.
Crystal Palace 2-4 Birmingham City
Birmingham City closed the gap on second-placed London City Lionesses with victory over Crystal Palace at Bromley this afternoon.
Birmingham took a stranglehold on the game with three goals in just four minutes. They hit the front with less than 10 minutes played as Jade Pennock controlled a pass from Charlie Devlin and smashed into the corner of the net to mark her 50th appearance for the West Midlands club.
Shortly after Devlin was the provider once more as she found Claudia Walker, whose first shot came back off the post before she made no mistake with the follow-up. Lucy Quinn made it three when she finished from Pennock’s ball in.
Palace got a foothold in the encounter with 10 minutes remaining of the first half as Annabel Blanchard’s cut-back found Coral-Jade Haines who smashed into the bottom corner. Then, in keeping with the rapid-fire nature of goals, the deficit was reduced once more just before the break when Annabel Johnson’s cross was deftly struck over City keeper Lucy Thomas by Molly Sharpe.
The outcome was finally settled with just over 20 minutes remaining as McLoughlin crossed for Walker to grab her second.
Crystal Palace stay sixth – exactly midway with two matches remaining.
Jay Patel’s Photo Gallery:
Teams: CRYSTAL PALACE: Kitching, Reilly, Everett, Johnson, Olding, Filbey, Haines, Sharpe, Blanchard, Doran, Hughes. Substitutes: Gibbons, Arthur, Dean, Negri, Bailey-Gayle, Guyatt.
Scorers: Haines 36′, Sharpe 43′.
BIRMINGHAM CITY: Thomas, Scott, Dunn, Lawley, Harris, Finn, McLoughlin, Devlin, Quinn, Walker, Pennock. Substitutes: Jones, Simkin, Bourne, Jenner, Cowie, Estcourt, Smith, Hudson, Worsley.
Scorers: Pennock 9′. Walker 11′, 68′. Quinn 14′.
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