Report: Palace Women miss out to Spurs in League Cup

Summary:

• Kaminski names a heavily rotated squad from the weekend's defeat to West Ham, with Majasaari, Gibbons, Sharpe, Arthur, Weerden, Larkin and Atkinson all being handed starts.
• 7: Neville blasts over from just outside the box
• 13: Blanchard does well to keep the ball and shoot, but her effort is easily saved by Heeps
• 32: Gunning-Williams misses the target after a great in-swinging cross from Vinberg
• 39: Majasaari gets down well to save a Gunning-Williams shot destined for the bottom right corner
• HT: Palace 0-0 Spurs
• 45: Two changes for either side at the break, as both managers look to change their side's fortunes
• 49: Vinberg opens the scoring after the ball is squared to her by Thomas
• 52: Sharpe cuts in from the right and her left-footed shot is just wide of the post
• 71: Dennis spins brilliantly and bends her shot into the right side of the net
• 82: Weerden receives the ball in space but her shot is just over the bar
• 87: England's volley is just wide of the right post
• FT: Palace 0-2 Spurs

In a very cold final instalment of the Women's League Cup at the VBS Community Stadium, Palace lost 1-0 to group winners Tottenham Hotspur.

The Eagles were the better of the two sides in the first half, dominating the ball and creating several quality chances.

The best of those came in the 13th minute, as Annabel Blanchard received and brilliantly controlled Ashleigh Weerden's pass – but her strike failed to test Eleanor Heeps in the Spurs goal.

It was Spurs however who took the lead in the 49th minute.

A well worked move found Martha Thomas in space on the right side of the box, and her cutback was passed into an empty net by Matilda Vinberg.

Palace continued to push for an equaliser, with Molly-Mae Sharpe cutting on to her left foot and narrowly missing the top left corner with a fierce strike.

Despite the home pressure, Tottenham managed to double their lead on the 71st minute, with substitute Araya Dennis – formerly on loan at Palace – turning on the edge of the box and finishing brilliantly.

11 minutes later, Weerden had a chance to half the deficit but was unable to keep her shot down.

It ended 2-0 in Sutton, with this result knocking Palace out of this season's Women's League Cup, and Aston Villa also winning against Charlton in the other fixture in Group E.

Kaminski and the team will now turn their sights to Manchester United in the Women's Super League at the VBS Community Stadium on Sunday, 15th December. Tickets for that fixture are available here.

Palace: Majasaari (GK), Gibbons, Arthur, Everett, Sharpe (Riley, 76), Blanchard (Cato, 68), Weerden, Nolan (Veje, 45), Gejl, Larkin (Stengel, 76), Atkinson (Pritchard, 45).

Subs not used: Yanez (GK), Potter, Woodham.

Spurs: Heeps (GK), Grant (Bailey, 88), Bartrip, Oroz (Wang, 45), Vinberg, Csiki, Thomas (Hunt, 45), Ahtinen, Buhler (England, 68), Neville, Gunning-Williams (Dennis, 62).

Subs not used: Talbert (GK), Naz, Spence.