Crystal Palace Women earned a point on the road after an entertaining 3-3 draw with Birmingham City at St Andrew’s. The result preserves Palace’s unbeaten away record in the Barclays Women’s Super League and saw Bethany England score her first goal for the club.
Birmingham made the faster start, taking the lead inside the opening minute through Océane Hurtré. Palace responded on the half-hour mark when Shanade Hopcroft’s free-kick found its way into the net, but Hurtré restored the hosts’ advantage before half-time. Pauline Peyraud-Magnin was required to make several important saves during a first half in which Birmingham created a number of dangerous openings.
Jo Potter’s side returned from the interval with greater attacking purpose. England twice came close to scoring, including a header cleared off the line by Neve Herron, before finally finding the net in the 70th minute. Sierra Enge’s effort had been pushed onto the crossbar, allowing England to react quickest to the rebound.
Palace then completed their turnaround seven minutes later. Lexi Lloyd-Smith won possession from Marie Levasseur, carried the ball into the area and calmly placed her finish beyond Sophie Baggaley to put the Eagles 3-2 ahead. It was Lloyd-Smith’s second WSL goal of the campaign.
The visitors looked set to claim their second league victory, but Birmingham levelled late on through Suzu Amano. Her effort took a deflection that wrong-footed Peyraud-Magnin, leaving Palace to settle for a share of the points. Hopcroft’s goal was her first since returning from Birmingham, having also scored against the club in Palace’s 3-0 home win last season.
Palace are due to face Charlton Athletic in the Subway Players Cup League Phase on Wednesday, 30 September, with kick-off scheduled for 19:00, before travelling to Aston Villa in the league the following weekend.
