Crystal Palace breathed new life into the Women’s Super League relegation battle as their first win since Leif Smerud’s appointment as manager enabled them to close the gap to second-bottom Aston Villa to just one point, with six games remaining.
The league’s bottom side were good value for their 3-1 win against Villa, which was only their second league victory as a WSL club since their promotion last summer and their first top-flight win on home soil, coming in Smerud’s third match in charge in all competitions since the sacking of Laura Kaminski on 28 February.
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Aniek Nouwen’s header from a first-half corner put the hosts in front before Ashleigh Weerden’s lethal, left-footed strike from just outside the area doubled Palace’s advantage. Lucy Parker hooked in from a corner to halve the deficit with five minutes remaining, before Katie Stengel capitalised on a mistake from Villa goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo – who was pushing up towards the halfway line in the 95th minute – to roll the ball into an empty net.
The result left the Villa head coach, Natalia Arroyo, still without a point from her four league fixtures in charge, and the club without a league win since December, although the Spaniard did oversee an FA Cup victory in February against Brighton.
The Sussex club were also in action on Sunday and claimed their first league win since November, as Fran Kirby’s low finish into the corner earned them a 1-0 win away at the out-of-form Tottenham.
In the Women’s Championship, Portsmouth won their second consecutive game by defeating Sunderland 2-1, to move off the bottom of the table and up to ninth, above their relegation rivals Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers, with huge twists on the same afternoon in the relegation battles in both of the top two leagues.
