Palace Women beat Sheffield United in fourth round of Adobe Women's FA Cup

Summary:

• Kaminski names a strong side in the first game of 2025
• 6 - GOAL: Sharpe opens the scoring, tapping home a cross whipped across the box by Weerden
• 18: Gejl finds Weerden in space, but the winger has her curled effort blocked
• 23: Murray holds the ball up well but her shot is deflected away for a Sheffield United corner
• 29 - GOAL: Weerden doubles the lead after being put through by Blanchard
• 34: Connolly-Jackson is gifted a golden opportunity but blazes her effort over the bar
• HT: Palace 2-0 Sheff Utd
• 50 - GOAL: Gejl beats the offside trap and places her finish beyond Davies in the Sheffield Utd goal
• 59 - GOAL: Weerden's dangerous effort eludes the Sheffield United goalkeeper and finds the top corner
• 68 - GOAL: Cato reacts quickest after Weerden's cross is deflected into her path and slots it in for Palace's fifth
• 72 - GOAL: Aherne gets one back for the away side, finding the bottom left corner
• 79 - Larkin drives at goal and sees her shot go narrowly over the bar
• 84 - GOAL: The ball bounces off the crossbar and is turned in by a Sheffield United player to give Palace a sixth
• FT: Palace 6-1 Sheff Utd

The Eagles came flying out the blocks in Sutton, with Molly-Mae Sharpe opening the scoring on the 6th minute.

Palace won the ball up high and Ashleigh Weerden was released on the left-wing, where she flashed a dangerous ball across the Sheffield United box.

Sharpe met the cross at the back post to give Palace their first goal of 2025.

Palace continued to dominate proceedings in the first half, with Weerden going close to making it 2-0 after a great pass from Annabel Blanchard.

This pressure told on the 30th minute, where Palace doubled their lead in Sutton.

The attack started after Katrine Veje skilfully intercepted a pass and found Blanchard in space, who slid a ball in behind the Sheffield United defence.

Weerden raced in behind the defence and on to the pass and smashed her effort into the bottom right corner.

Connolly-Jackson's skied effort was the closest that the away side came to scoring in the first half, with Palace always on the front foot.

Palace started the second half exactly how they ended the first, with My Cato finding herself in space and playing an inch-perfect ball through to Mille Gejl.

Gejl drove at goal and fired her shot beyond the goalkeeper to make it 3-0 to Palace.

Things then got even better for the Eagles, as Weerden grabbed her second in sensational fashion.

The winger picked up the ball from Gejl and lofted in a dangerous cross that eluded the goalkeeper and found the back of the net.

My Cato got in on the act on 69 minutes, as the Swedish international reacted quickest to an unfortunate deflection and tapped home from close range.

Sheffield United managed to pull one back three minutes later, as Alyssa Aherne finished after Palace gave the ball away in their own half.

Palace added a sixth on the 84th minute, with the ball being turned into the net by Olivia Page after a fortunate deflection off of the crossbar.

This result means that Palace advance to the fifth round of the Women's FA Cup, where they will host Newcastle United on either the 8th or 9th February.

Ticketing details for that fixture will be announced in due course.

Next up for Laura Kaminski's side are Arsenal in the Barclays Women's Super League on the 19th January, you can get tickets for that fixture here.

Palace: Yañez (GK), Veje (Gibbons, 56) , Cato, Nolan (Green, 68), Everett, Blanchard, Potter, Gejl (Arthur, 69) , Sharpe (Larkin, 56), Weerden, Woodham (Stengel, 60)

Subs not used: Majasaari (GK)

Sheffield Utd: Davies (GK), Cowan, Hobson (Salisbury, 81), Farrugia (Edwards, 81), Hand, Robinson (Watts, 67), Bailey, Page, Butler (Aherne, 46), Connolly-Jackson, Murray (Jones, 67)

Subs not used: Rogers (GK)