Durham Women suffered a first home defeat of the season at the hands of Crystal Palace – despite dominating play.
The Wildcats made all the running at Maiden Castle but fell victim to Anna Filbey’s strike just before the break – with the visitors owing much to an inspired performance from Fran Kitching, who also kept out Beth Hepple’s spot kick.
Fresh off the back of their penalty win over Manchester United in midweek, Durham started brightly with Rio Hardy seeing an early header held by Kitching.
Bridget Galloway then saw a looping effort come back off the crossbar, before Jess Clarke saw a powerful drive spectacularly tipped over by Kitching.
Durham continued to press forward with Hardy again coming close after connecting with a teasing Hepple delivery, with the game largely played in the Palace half.
But against the run of play, it was the Eagles who struck first with Filbey sending home a rocket from range.
Durham could have levelled almost immediately after Robson was pushed over in the penalty area, but Kitching did well to tip Hepple’s penalty onto the post.
The second followed much of a similar pattern with Durham doing most of the attacking – Hardy sending a glancing header narrowly wide just after the restart.
Palace managed the game well and restricted major opportunities though, with only a few scares late on.
A goalmouth scramble was somehow cleared from danger before what looked to be a stonewall penalty on Hardy was waved away.
And having controlled stoppage time, the Eagles clung on to secure the three points.