Sunday’s game was the first of the Barclays Women’s Super League season at the VBS community stadium for Crystal Palace, as the side fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion. Palace manager Laura Kaminski spoke to the media following the spirited performance from her side in Sutton.
First addressing her ambitions to make both the Sutton-based stadium and Selhurst Park home for her side, Kaminski expressed “I’ve urged the players to really see this as our as our home, which it is, along with Selhurst [Park]. Flitting between the two should, across the season, bring loads of fans to watch us play. I think we broke the record again today. So it proves they’re coming down to watch a great show. We put some great football on today and we heard them [the fans] from minute one to till the end of the game so it was a great atmosphere today at the VBS and we look forward to returning.”
Palace ‘deserved to take something’ from the defeat says Kaminski
Regardless of the fact that Crystal Palace largely dominated the second-half of their meeting with Brighton, they were unable to capitalise on their chances and left the VBS community stadium on the wrong side of a narrow 1-0 defeat.
Kaminski was visibly frustrated along the side-line throughout the game, especially when balls were flashed across the face of goal. It was no surprise when she expressed her disappointment post-match, claiming “I am disappointed because I feel like we definitely deserved to take something from it, but it does prove that sloppy mistakes in our own 18 yard box, cost us.“
Despite the setback, Kaminski was full of praise for her side’s spirited performance when saying “I thought the players applied themselves well, they applied the game plan well, they showed togetherness. I thought the substitutions had great impact. It was a great team performance again, which we had against Leicester. Unfortunately we didn’t take anything away from it today, but if the team continues to perform and fight like that, then eventually things will swing our way. “
‘We looked like a WSL side today’ praises Kaminski
When reflecting on the start her side has made in their debut season in the women’s top flight, there is no doubt that the Eagle’s manager is proud. She reminisces that “I think the first two weeks that we’ve had, we’ve made significant improvements and learnings from those two weeks and it shows that we deserve to be in this league. We look like a WSL side today. So for me, that’s the most important take away.”
Reflecting on her team’s mere 1-0 loss to a stacked Brighton side, Kaminski was keen to give credit where it was due, but not without being optimistic in regards to the opportunity her own side have to make ground when expressing that “at the end of the day, they [Brighton] are an experienced side with a lot of talent, and I thought we got caught out today with a little bit of a collision in the box. In those moments their experience got through a little bit and it fell to them. We need to make sure that we learn from that and we push on because there are so many positives from the performance that I would like to build on.”
Eagles ‘eager to crack on’ affirms Kaminski
Kaminski is under no illusion of the calibre of opposition that awaits her side, as Palace now prepare to travel to Anfield next weekend to take on Liverpool. Despite the tough opponent, the Palace boss has full confidence in her team to graft and get points on the board.
She said “I think Matt Beard is a fantastic manager and has the ability to to grind points out and give big sides a game. We won’t be underestimating Liverpool whatsoever, but at the end of the day I’ve got a group of players that want to go and get points on the board and have demonstrated that they can, so we go there with a positive attitude off the back of two great performances.”
When asked how she intends to buoy her side up after their defeat to the Seagulls, Kaminski had no qualms when explaining “I don’t think that’ll be difficult for me because I’ve got players that are eager to crack on with this journey and this challenge. You can see that from the speed that they’ve adapted to things that are going on here and the speed that they’re gelling together. I have an extremely intelligent group and they want to push on. So we’re driven together.“
