Crystal Palace get revenge on Lewes with Championship win at the Pan

Doran’s scruffy strike arrived at the end of an entertaining first half after Lewes were unable to clear their lines.

It meant that for Lewes there was no repeat of their 4-1 Conti Cup win over Palace a week earlier. Victory saw Palace leapfrog their opponents into sixth with nine games played.

The best chance in an end-to-end start fell to Lewes, as Palace’s Fran Kitching made a brilliant double save to deny Emily Kraft.

Palace were soon causing trouble and Paige Bailey-Gayle’s powerful effort was turned behind for a corner.

She was through on goal again a short while later but couldn’t muster enough power to beat Sophie Whitehouse.

The chances kept coming for the visitors, with Coral Jade-Haines the next to go close, but her header fell agonisingly wide. The deadlock was broken on 39 minutes when Doran tapped home from close range in the aftermath of a scramble.

Lewes were quicker off the blocks after the restart and were denied an equaliser by a fingertip save from Kitching, and she followed that up with a brilliant low stop.

Lewes pushed hard late on but Kitching stood firm, making one last stunning save in stoppage time.

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