The Bees Continental Tyres Cup campaign came to an end at Hayes Lane, as they took on Palace with ten players for over 75 minutes of the match.
Lee Burch’s side got off to the perfect start in South London as Amelia Hazard scored a wonderful goal from 30 yards out to give us the advantage.
However, things started to unravel on a bitterly cold evening, as Nicola Gibson was shown a straight red card after 14 minutes after she handled Bianca Baptiste’s goalbound effort. After consultation with his linesman, the referee produced the red card, before Haines stepped up to convert the penalty.
Palace soon had the lead as Baptiste sprinted through on goal and slotted past Sarah Quantrill to really put the Bees on the back foot. There was a touch of fortune for the Eagles third as Wilson’s strike was deflected in leaving Quantrill with no chance.
Despite being a player short, the Bees really could have halved the deficit as they made a hatful of chances in a ten minute period of dominance. The best of those chances fell to Hazard who looked to have finished a free-flowing move, but her effort went just wide of the post.
Burch’s side were punished for their missed chances and found themselves 4-1 down at the break as Khassal scored right on the stroke of half time.
The second half was always going to be a struggle for the Bees and they stood firm until the 59th minute where Baptiste added her second goal of the evening as she scrambled home from a Palace corner.
The fifth goal allowed for Burch to give some crucial minutes to London Bees Academy graduate goalkeeper Faye Hazelton who replaced Quantrill in between the sticks for the last half hour.
Hazleton was instantly called into action and made a great stop to turn behind a powerful long-range effort. The young goalkeeper handled herself brilliantly and did a great job when called upon.
Palace didn’t relent and finished the scoring just one minute from time as Taylor poked past Hazelton via the aid of the post to add a sixth of the evening.
It was a tough night for the 10 player Bees who will now have a break from action before taking on Leicester City Women in two weeks time.
LEE BURCH REACTION:
You can hear the boss’ reaction by CLICKING HERE.