Crystal Palace forward Elise Hughes says that the team’s performance against London City Lionesses last night was hugely disappointing and was not reflective of their qualities.
The Eagles slumped to a heavy 5-0 loss to the Barclays Women’s Championship leaders. Crystal Palace invested heavily in their playing squad last summer but Dean Davenport’s side have struggled for consistency since making a bright start to the season.
London City Lionesses dominated the first half, leaving Crystal Palace with a three-goal deficit going into half-time. The Eagles simply weren’t able to contain their opponents, something which forward Hughes said was very disappointing.
“It was obviously a really tough game, London City came with an intensity that we weren’t able to match, especially in the first half which was disappointing from us,” Hughes said when speaking to FAWSL Full-Time.
“We have to reflect on that ourselves; taking nothing away from them but that’s not a Crystal Palace team that turned up today.”
Last night’s defeat leaves Crystal Palace nine points adrift of the league summit. Hughes believes that there is more than enough quality in the dressing room to turn the South Londoners’ season around.
She said “We’ve all bought into a process of wanting to do well and playing a certain style. There are going to be dips in that process but it is just a shame that another dip came today and we weren’t able to react.
“When you look around the dressing room, you know that there are good players in there. A few of us are lacking in confidence, probably from results more than anything. Everyone in that changing room is a winner, all of the staff are winners, nobody likes losing.
“It’s only us in that dressing room that can turn things around. We know that we need to do that and soon.”
Crystal Palace are next in action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to the Butts Park Arena to face Coventry United.
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