Crystal Palace substitute's last-gasp winner denies Lewes in cup

A moment of magic from Emma Jones put the hosts in front just before the hour mark, before Palace replacement Baptiste struck twice in 14 minutes to snatch victory from their FA Women’s Championship rivals.

Despite enjoying the bulk of possession in the opening 45 minutes, Palace couldn’t breach a compact and organised Lewes side, led by their skipper Rhian Cleverly.

Both Palace strikers – Amber Gaylor and Amy Taylor – drew smart stops from Laura Hartley in the Lewes goal, with the hosts struggling for any outlet of their own.

With this particular group containing three Championship sides, the incentive to be more positive was clear right from the outset of the second period, resulting in a much more engrossing contest.

Jones broke the deadlock with a brilliant half-turn and curled left-foot strike from the edge of the penalty area, cleverly using the bodies in front of Palace goalkeeper Emma Gibbon as a weapon – but the lead was short-lived.

Dean Davenport made a trio of changes at the same time, and the switch worked. A whipped delivery right into the middle of the Lewes six-yard box wasn’t dealt with, and Baptiste was first to react, toe-poking home.

Lewes had their moments, Katie Rood forcing Gibbon to tip the ball round the post with a 20-yard drive, while Jones should have had a second when played in by Sarah Kempson, only to hesitate before getting her shot away.

As it transpired, they were made to pay. Another dangerous in-swinger was missed by everyone but Baptiste, with the mazy forward, as she so often does, nodding into the net to give Palace all three points and an early foothold in the competition.

To follow the action and sign up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com Lewes manager Simon Parker said:“It’s so frustrating to concede two goals from the same position, because we’ve done so much work tonight that was really positive.

“Our shape and structure wasn’t quite right in the first half and so we couldn’t quite engineer as much as we wanted going forward, but we were so much better in the second half.

“I know it’s a cliché, but football really can be a game of fine margins and we were on the wrong end this evening.

“To not deal with the danger off their set-pieces, especially for the second goal, is a hard one to stomach because we should have learned from it. We had fair warning from the first goal.

“We will take plenty of positives from tonight, though. So many of the young players showed they have plenty of potential, and for us now it’s a case of looking forward to Blackburn and building on the start we have made in the league.”

Lewes (4-4-2): Laura Hartley, Ella Newman, Ellie Hack, Rhian Cleverly, Charley Boswell, Simran Jhamat, Ellie Noble, Megan Mackey, Hannah Griffin, Sarah Kempson, Emma Jones

Substitutes: Sammy Quayle for Boswell 62, Sophie O’Rourke for Newman 62, Katie Rood for Kempson 62, Nicola Cousins for Jones 74, Emily Donovan for Jhamat 81

Substitutes not used:Tatiana Saunders, Danni Lane, Ellie Leek, Filippa Savva

Goal: Jones 59

Booking:Mackey 79

Crystal Palace (3-5-2): Emma Gibbon, Lizzie Waldie, Leeta Rutherford, Amy Goddard, Ffion Morgan, Andria Georgiou, Aoife Hurley, Coral-Jade Haines, Georgia Clifford, Amy Taylor, Amber Gaylor

Substitutes: Bianca Baptiste for Gaylor 63, Cherelle Khassal for Taylor 63, Siobhan Wilson for Haines 63

Substitutes not used: Chloe Morgan, Leigh Nicol, Annabel Johnson

Goals:Baptiste 76, 90

Bookings: Gaylor 47, Goddard 69

Referee:Chloe-Ann Anderson