Sun 22 Mar (game 2): Teddington Athletic 2-1 Crystal Palace

Any good player will tell you that after defeat, they want to get straight back out there and make good. Luckily for Teddington, who have lots of good players, they only had to wait 10 minutes - and could face the same opposition.

For the second game, the pack was shuffled. Ruby stayed in goal, but Ella Parkinson-Mearns came in for Millie T, to join Sas and Ella V at the back; Sophie's departure opened up a squad space for Ale Fairn to lead the line, flanked by Amy and Macca; and Doddsy, who'd run herself into the ground in the first game, was rested, as Emily and Carla manned the midfield. That left a powerful bench of Millie T, Doddsy, Phoebe and Sinead – and all would be involved sooner or later.

In Doddsy's case, it was sooner: just four minutes in, Emily limped tearfully off after getting a kick on the leg. Both teams were notably quieter in this second game, settling quietly down to business without quite matching the urgency of the first match.


Palace had a couple of chances. After Ruby cleared a shot with her feet, tiny Elizabeth Heyndrickx was allowed an unmarked header, irritatingly for the Teddington defence – although they coped better with a mazy run from the right, blocking all access to the area and forcing the winger laterally and harmlessly wide.

Even when Palace did finally break through, they couldn't shake their markers: when the other winger showed Jelly her heels and burrowed through the inside-left channel, she was surprised to find a dogged Parky tracking her all the way and forcing her into an off-target shot.

Five minutes before the break, Ale's troublesome ankle gave way again, so Sinead came on up top. Her usual left-wing beat was occupied by Millie Mac, as ever throwing herself into her duties and being slightly surprised by how good she is.

Take the through-ball Macca played just after Sinead came on. Wonderfully weighted between the defenders, it was perfect for Doddsy to run onto... except a defender arrived and cleaned her out, just inside the area, injuring herself in the process. To general astonishment, the referee asked Teddington to turn over possession from a drop-ball on the halfway line.

In time added on for that incident, Parky became the third Teddington player of the half to limp off, having painfully turned her ankle (she's now borrowing the crutches Jelly has only just stopped using). With Millie T slotting back in, the home side once again showed their squad depth – and at half-time, Phoebe replaced Amy and Emily came on for Macca.

Again, Palace also made changes – including the return of that impressive No.11 Rebecca S – but it was Teddington's fresh faces that made the difference first: within a minute of the restart, Emily wafted a shot just wide. Two minutes later, Palace cleared a corner to where Jelly was patrolling the forward edge of the centre circle: she sent the ball looping back toward goal, only for it to bounce on top of the crossbar and harmlessly away. "How come Emily's go in and mine don't?" she asked, plaintively.

On the half-hour, all was joy as another Emily shot did indeed go in. She had been involved throughout the move, sending her fellow half-time sub Phoebe down the right, receiving the return pass and dragging the shot across the goalkeeper, who pushed it wide; Sinead chased, recycled and set up Emily to sweep in from just inside the area.

Two minutes later, Palace were back on terms through their increasingly effective No.7, and two very good sides took it in turns to attack. Phoebe battled admirably down the right, this time not relying on pace but persistence, harrying three defenders in turn until she could fire in a shot which the goalkeeper just about turned wide. Then a big Palace clearance was allowed to bounce through to that No.7, but it was Ruby's turn to deal with the shot.

However, no goalkeeper – not even the admirable Rebekah C – could cope with Teddington's second goal, which came through that combination of hard graft, teamwork and pure skill. The graft came from Sinead chasing a lost cause down the left and resetting to Carla, whose teamwork rendered her happy to lay off to Emily – and Teddington's top scorer, noticing Rebekah marginally off her line, calmly lobbed it perfectly into the far corner.

The remaining 10 minutes were somewhat frantic, and not always wholesomely so. When Jelly received a kick on the ankle so recently injured that she was on crutches until earlier in the week, she went down in agony, and a Palace player accused her of diving. When your reporter explained the injury history to the player, the Palace manager – understandably and quite correctly – insisted that all conversation should go through him, at which point your reporter stepped forward to repeat the explanation. It was an unfortunate contretemps, for which I apologised both in person after the match and in writing afterwards, and should not be allowed to take away from Teddington's hard-fought victory.

And what a victory. Holding fiercely on in the face of increasing pressure (and, it has to be said, some mystifying decisions), Teddington (re)discovered a strength in unity and held off the mighty Palace. Despite suffering no fewer than six injuries over the second game, the home side showed they can take on and beat anyone – even those who had gone unbeaten in 27 games.

These two sides will meet again on May 10 in what will surely be a worthy Surrey Cup final – and Teddington have proved to themselves that while they should always show opponents respect, they need never step onto a pitch in fear.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC: Ruby Rudkin, Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Ella V, Saskia Brewster, Carla Novakovic, Emily Coulson (2), Amy Hallett, Ale Fairn, Millie MacEacharn. Subs: Millie Theobald, Phoebe Head, Sinead Morris, Ella Dodd.

Pics thanks to Richie again. And thanks to all the parents for your support!