Crystal Palace paupers struggle to keep pace with Man City slickers

Gulf between the WSL’s have and have-nots is all too easy to see as hosts humbled by visitors

Manchester City Women came down to London with a single goal – to secure three points. And the ease of their victory highlighted that the gulf between the Women’s Super League’s thrivers and survivors has never been more pronounced.
Gareth Taylor’s team are not only unbeaten in the league, but they have dropped points only once, away at Arsenal, as they look to avenge missing out on last season’s title on goal difference.
Palace secured promotion to the top flight last season and their goal for the current campaign is simply to remain in the WSL.
It was always going to be a steep learning curve, but in their second match at Selhurst Park this season, and in front of just under 3,000 fans they had a clear plan to defend and contain.
Well supported by a small but vocal group of fans behind the goal in the traditional home end, Palace struggled to make an impact on the pitch as City eased to a comfortable 3-0 win, although given Chelsea managed to put seven past the same club at the only other match at Selhurst Park, it could feel like a missed opportunity.
“I didn’t like losing the league on goal difference last season and I don’t like the way the league is set up because I think it’s pretty crazy,” Taylor said.
“In the men’s Premier League, I know they play 38 games over to our 22, but you can lose eight games and maybe still win the league. You can’t lose three in ours. We lost three games last season and won 18 and we still didn’t win the league.”
From the kick off, Palace slipped into a defensive formation with five at the back, and struggled to get out of their own half while putting in strong tackles to try to contain the City threat.
Jess Park broke the deadlock with a stunning strike from distance five minutes before half time, City having dominated from the outset.
City had been lacking a creative spark in the final third, with only a series of lacklustre chances that hardly tested goalkeeper Shae Yanez, but that changed when Park received the ball and sent a long looping shot into the back of the net.
At the start of the second half, when Jill Roord added City’s second with a well-struck low drive into the bottom corner, the result already had a touch of inevitability about it. Khadija Shaw capped off the win with a third goal in the 72nd minute.
For Palace, this was a significant improvement on the 7-0 Chelsea drubbing but once again they had to put their bodies on the line until the final whistle. For City not scoring more than three could come back to haunt them.
“I don’t put undue pressure on to say ‘we have to score goals today’ or ‘let’s go and rattle up a cricket score’ because that’s when our decision-making goes,” Taylor said when asked about the significance of goal difference.
“Of course we create so much, we probably could have done more with our chances in the first half but it was an important goal that Jess got that allowed us to settle on our platform.”
But despite a resolute defensive performance, chances were sparse, Palace had to wait until the hour mark for their first significant attempt, Annabel Blanchard taking a touch to set up a shot but seeing it sail high over the bar.
That seemed to spark them into life however, with Katie Stengel hitting the post just five minutes later to the delight of the crowd.
But the gulf between these two sides was evident on the teamsheets – City boasting a full roster of eight substitutes while the home side could only name six.
Unlike City, who have a purpose-built academy stadium in the shadow of the main home ground, Palace play the majority of their matches in Sutton, and manager Laura Kaminski reflected on the contrast: “Our journey looks different, this side is capable of competing, drawing and beating a good side but it will come later. It’s important that we close the gap and we shorten the margin and I think we’ve demonstrated that we’ve done that and are on course.”