Palace Women 3-2 Charlton Athletic Women: Late England winner caps thrilling comeback
Palace Women produced a grandstand finish at VBS Community Stadium to beat Charlton Athletic Women 3-2, coming from behind to snatch all three points with a stoppage-time winner. It was a huge result given how the game had swung back and forth, and it moves Palace back into form after a tricky run, with their last five WSL games now reading DLLLW.
The breakthrough looked to have been made when Lexi Lloyd-Smith opened the scoring in the 57th minute, curling a left-footed effort from a tight angle into the top corner after being teed up by Teyah Goldie. It was a goal out of nothing and looked set to settle a tense, scrappy afternoon.
Charlton though hit back in dramatic fashion in the space of a minute. Keira Flannery saw a 73rd-minute penalty crash back off the crossbar, but moments later Elisha N'Dow rose to head in from a set piece to level things up, and before Palace could regroup Leah Davidson turned home from close range to put the visitors 2-1 up in the 74th minute.
Palace's response was immediate and impressive. Aimee Everett powered in a header from a corner in the 81st minute, again set up by Lloyd-Smith, to restore parity. Then, deep into stoppage time, substitute Bethany England - who had only come on in the second half - struck from close range in the 90th minute to snatch a dramatic winning goal and send the game Palace's way.
There were cards for both sides in a feisty spell either side of the opening goal, with Charlton's Keira Flannery and Palace's Abbie Larkin both booked for fouls within a minute of each other. The hosts also had to deal with two separate injury delays in the first half, with both Molly Bartrip and Shannon O'Brien requiring treatment before O'Brien was eventually withdrawn for England at half-time of the second period.
Palace were the dominant side for long spells, finishing with 56.4% of possession and a huge 16 shots to Charlton's 10, though it was Charlton who were more clinical from range, putting six of their ten efforts on target compared to Palace's three from sixteen. Palace also edged the corner count and completed significantly more passes over the course of the game.
The win continues Charlton's miserable WSL run, their form standing at LLLLL after another defeat on the road, while Palace's victory will be a timely confidence boost as they look to pull away from trouble in 13th. With goals shared around the pitch and a nerve-shredding finish, this was exactly the kind of result Palace fans at VBS will have been craving.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
