Report: Palace Women earn valuable point away at Brighton

Summary:

• Kaminski names an unchanged side from the defeat against Spurs, with Öling and Hughes featuring on the bench for the first time this season.
• 5: Bremer is put through but makes a mess of her shot, and Majasaari easily gathers
• 18: GOAL - Woodham's back pass takes an unfortunate bobble and the ball rolls into the net to give Brighton an early lead
• 33: Losada has her effort saved well by Majasaari
• 42: Stengel has a good effort blocked, and the ball runs out for a corner
• 45+1: Majasaari saves excellently from a dangerous Cankovic free-kick
• HT: Brighton 1-0 Palace
• 47: Symonds is shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Everett
• 65: Larisey is booked for a late challenge
• 73: Brighton have a flurry of opportunities to double the lead, but can't find the target
• 87: GOAL - Woodham rolls the balls across the Brighton box and there is Cato to pass it into the net
• 90+5: Brighton clear an effort off the line after Cato heads on goal
• 90+7: Olislagers has a golden opportunity to win for the hosts, but she hits the post
• FT: Brighton 1-1 Palace

It was a fiercely contested game in Crawley, but Laura Kaminski's side managed to salvage a draw after some early misfortune.

18 minutes in and Lily Woodham's back pass to Milla-Maj Majasaari took an unfortunate bobble and trickled into the Palace net.

Katie Stengel had the best chance for Palace in the first half, with her strike narrowly deflecting wide.

Majasaari made amends just moments before the half-time whistle, palming away a Jelena Čanković free kick that was destined for the top corner.

The second-half saw an almost immediate red card for Brighton's Maisie Symonds, who was given her marching orders just three minutes in to the restart.

The ball had come loose and the midfielder's reckless challenge on Palace captain Aimee Everett meant that the referee had no choice but to dismiss the Brighton player.

Despite being a player down, the hosts had the next big chance of the game with Nikita Parris going close to doubling Brighton's lead on 73 minutes.

However it was Palace that scored the next goal, with My Cato bagging her second WSL goal in a Palace shirt on 87 minutes.

Woodham picked up the ball in an advanced position on the left wing and crossed an accurate ball into the feet of Cato.

The Sweden international struck first time, and her finish wrong-footed the goalkeeper and nestled in the bottom left corner to make it 1-1.

The fourth official showed 10 minutes of added time, and Cato almost grabbed hers and Palace's second goal of the game in the 95th minute.

A dangerous corner was lofted back into the box, and Cato headed it on goal, only for the goalkeeper Loeck to clear the ball off the line.

There was yet more late drama though, as Brighton countered and Marisa Olislagers found herself one-on-one with Majasaari.

The Netherlands international saw her shot beat Majasaari, but not the Palace post as the ball rebounded to safety.

This result earns Palace their first point in the WSL of 2025, with Newcastle United in the Adobe Women's FA Cup next up on Sunday, 9th February at the VBS Community Stadium.

You can get tickets for that game here.

Brighton: Loeck (GK), Thorisdottir, Pattinson, Bergsvand, Losada (Carabali, 96), Bremer (Olislagers, 54), Parris, Cankovic, Symonds, Haley (Agyemang, 81), McLauchlan

Subs not used: Baggaley (GK), Hayes, Noordam, Rayner, Stefanovic, Rule

Palace: Majasaari (GK), Cato, Everett (Veje, 54), Sharpe (Sharpe, 71), Weerden (Larisey, 61), Green, Nolan, Potter, Gejl (Blanchard, 61), Woodham, Stengel

Subs not used: Yañez (GK), Gibbons, Arthur, Hughes, Öling