In a league where so many points separate the first and second as the sixth and 12th, the difference at the bottom and the West Cham impressive comeback from two goals to win 5-2 against Crystal Palace conference, for now has canceled the relegation.
Goals from Viviane Asseyi, Seraina Piubel, Manuela Paví, Anouk Denton and Katrina Gorry for the Hammers gave early lead to Mille Gejl and Indiah-Paige Leo for the visiting side at a cold and windy Victoria Road.
West Ham, Palace and Leicester started the field in five points of the day and with a 4-0 loss in the Midlands city of Manchester, it was an opportunity to put one of the other side threatened with relegation between themselves and the bottom of the light slide. That’s how tight things are in the WSL, with just five points separating Tottenham in sixth, on 10 points, and Palace on 12th*5, the next game.
For the fourth time in five games, Palace Laura Kaminski took the lead, this time their opener came in the fifth minute, Kirsty Smith in the last third killed before Annabel Blanchard Gejl fed the ball into goalkeeper Kinga Szemik and slotted the ball.
Their cushion was doubled in the 11th minute, Leo cutting to his left before slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
“To create soft goals and chances, that’s important,” Kaminski had said before the meeting in Dagenham. That’s right, Palace looked efficient moving the ball forward in their maiden WSL season, they have a visible structure, but they struggled consistently throughout the 90 minutes. “Now in sports it’s about doing things. We’ve been working on leisure and power,” Kaminski said.
Unfortunately, as the manager of the visiting team, those efforts may still pay off on the pitch. The fact that only Aston Villa had dropped more points, eight from winning places than Crystal Palace, seven, before the meeting with West Ham, was a sign of things to come.
The Hammers retreated first through Asseyi, the French put a forward foot behind far behind Piubel’s cross from the right.
Piubel himself found the net, released Australian midfielder Gorry Helvetica on the right side, and slotted past Shae Yanez at the near post.
The return of half time was complete, Riko Ueki floated the ball into the box and was saved by Asseyi allowing Paví to slot in.
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There was much less commotion after the break, with West Ham fans chanting “four” past the hour mark with the goals drying up. Palace came closest to scoring next though, as Katie Stengel, booked earlier for kicking the ball after the whistle had gone, rounded the defender before seeing her low shot saved by Szemik.
The Chelsea side were to seal the win with less than 10 minutes remaining to kill off any hope of a point for the visiting side, Denton firing in a corner after a mazy run from inside the opposition half, before Gorry added a fifth in stoppage time, turning. at the bottom post the ball turned into his path.
West Ham’s future looks brighter now, with their two wins coming against fellow WSL bottom-feeders Leicester and Palace. Aston Villa are looking forward to next weekend before the winter break, for a chance to further their WSL credentials. For the Palace, solidity and security cannot come soon enough.