Crystal Palace boss Laura Kaminski is pleased with how her side have adjusted to life in the WSL despite losing three of their four opening league matches.
Against Brighton on Sunday, Palace fell to a narrow defeat with Bruna Vilamala’s 35th-minute tap-in - against the run of play - enough to separate the two sides.
The Eagles showed promise and were probably the better side on balance, but their lack of potency in attack proved costly.
Nonetheless, Kaminski takes confidence in how her side competed against an established WSL outfit.
“I’m really proud,” Kaminski shared. “Brighton have some great strengths to be able to combat. We set up with that in mind but also with our attacking turnovers in mind. The players did what I asked them to do.
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“At the end of the day, they're an experienced side with a lot of caps, and I thought we got caught out today with a little bit of collision in the box, a coming together in a box, shall we say, and in those moments their experience shone through a little bit, and it fell to them.
“We need to make sure that we learn from that, and we push on because there are so many positives from the performance that I would like to build on."
Following promotion to the WSL this summer, Palace were met with a birth of fire as they entered the top tier, falling to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham and a 7-0 battering against Chelsea the following week.
Since then, Palace’s performances have picked up, beating Leicester and competing well against Brighton. Although disappointed with Sunday’s result, the Palace boss was keen to extract the positives from their display, admitting that her side are beginning to look like a more cohesive Super League contingent.
“I think the last two weeks that we've had, we've made significant improvements and learnings from the first two games, and it shows that we deserve to be in this league.
“We looked like a WSL side today. So, for me, that's the most important takeaway. We're disappointed that we didn't get anything in terms of points on the board, but I know if the team continues to perform and fight like that, then eventually things will swing our way."
Next up on Palace’s top-flight journey is a trip to Matt Beard’s Liverpool on Sunday.
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