Tottenham Women 1-1 Crystal Palace Women: Blakstad strike forces shootout but Palace win on penalties
Tottenham Women and Crystal Palace Women played out a 1-1 draw at the Gaughan Group Stadium in the WSL Players Cup, with Crystal Palace eventually coming out on top 5-3 on penalties after the sides could not be separated in normal time.
Crystal Palace took the lead in the first half through Bethany England, who finished at the 21st minute mark to give the visitors the advantage at the break. Tottenham pushed for an equaliser throughout the second period and got their reward late on when substitute Julie Blakstad, who had only just been introduced, scored in the 75th minute to make it 1-1 and send the tie to a penalty shootout.
With no further goals in normal time, the match went straight to spot-kicks, and it was Crystal Palace who held their nerve, winning the shootout 5-3 to take the extra point on offer in this WSL Players Cup group format.
Tottenham made a flurry of changes just after the hour mark, with Drew Spence, Olivia Holdt, Cathinka Tandberg and Julie Blakstad all introduced in the 55th minute, while Lenna Gunning-Williams came on later in the second half. Crystal Palace also freshened things up from the bench, with Abbie Larkin, Fuka Tsunoda, Annabel Blanchard and Lexi Lloyd-Smith all brought on in the 65th minute.
Cards were shown to both sides as the game went on. Crystal Palace's Ashleigh Weerden was booked in the 55th minute, with team-mates Jamie-Lee Napier and Sierra Enge also picking up yellow cards in the second half, in the 73rd and 82nd minutes respectively. Tottenham's Toko Koga was shown a late yellow card in the 89th minute.
In terms of the bigger picture, the draw leaves both teams on 8 points in the WSL Players Cup standings, though Crystal Palace's shootout win nudges them above Tottenham in the group placings, with Tottenham sitting 7th and Crystal Palace 9th. In the Women's League Cup specifically, Tottenham's run reads DWW across their last three outings, while Crystal Palace's last five in the competition read WWLLD, this draw against Spurs being the most recent result in that sequence.
Looking at form across all competitions, Tottenham arrived on the back of a LLWWW run, having bounced back from league defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal with cup and league wins over Bristol City, Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion. Crystal Palace's all-competitions form read LLLLW, with their win over Charlton Athletic on 8 November the only victory in that run before this cup draw.
Attendance at the Gaughan Group Stadium was given as 531 for the contest, as both sides took something from the evening - Tottenham claiming a share of the points on the pitch, and Crystal Palace edging the extra reward via the shootout.
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.
