'Not good enough' Palace relegated by West Ham thrashing

Manager Leif Smerud says Crystal Palace "have not been good enough" all season after a heavy defeat by West Ham confirmed their relegation from the Women's Super League.

Needing to avoid defeat to delay an immediate return to the second tier, the Eagles were humbled at home as German striker Shekiera Martinez scored four of the Hammers' seven goals.

A 15th loss of the season left Palace with nine points from 20 games - seven behind 11th-placed Aston Villa, with just two games left.

"I was saying that over a year in football, you get what you deserve and we have to acknowledge we have not been good enough," said Smerud, who replaced Laura Kaminski as boss in March with the club four points from safety.

The Norwegian led the Eagles to only their second win of the season when they beat Villa last month to move within one point of their relegation rivals.

But defeats by Everton, Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham, while conceding a total of 18 goals, sealed their top-flight exit.

"We have to look at the facts and they are that we have not been good enough, not today and not during the season. It's not that difficult, you don't have to be an expert to see that," added Smerud.

His side have conceded 58 goals this term - 16 more than Tottenham who have the second-worst defence - and scored just 16 times, which is one more than lowest scorers Leicester.

It was always going to be an uphill task for Palace to claim the much-needed success against a West Ham side unbeaten in four matches, including impressive draws against Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City.

And so it proved as Rehanne Skinner's side produced a clinical display in front of goal, while the hosts were left to rue missed early opportunities to equalise through Katie Stengel and Ashleigh Weerden after Martinez's opener.

"Overall we have to learn from it, as a club and as a team we have to learn from this. Today shows what the season has shown, that we are not good enough to stay in the league," said Smerud.

Palace look to finish on a high after season low

Less than 24 hours after their men's team enjoyed success in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium, there were contrasting emotions for Crystal Palace Women in south London.

But their return to the Women's Championship has looked almost inevitable since a 4-0 defeat at Tottenham in their WSL debut on 22 September 2024.

It went from bad to worse for the Eagles five days later as they shipped seven goals without reply against reigning champions Chelsea.

A 2-0 win against Leicester in their third outing provided a glimmer of hope, but that remained their only victory in 14 matches under Kaminski, who led Palace to the second-tier title last season, but was replaced by Smerud.

The crushing defeat by West Ham was their fifth in six games under Smerud, who will now hope to rebuild the side in the Championship unless the club decide to make a managerial change.

They face Leicester and Manchester City to close out their top-flight debut campaign and Smerud told BBC Sport: "We are disappointed. The Palace supporters want to see us performing and today we couldn't do it, and we'll try to do it against Leicester and finish the season as we should.

"Today we are disappointed, rather than looking forward."

Four-goal Martinez bursts into golden boot race

Martinez has enjoyed a productive spell since her Hammers debut in January, scoring nine goals in 10 matches.

The German was signed from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2024 but spent the first half of the season on loan at Freiburg.

"I love scoring goals for this club and I'm always happy to help my team," Martinez told BBC Sport.

"I think it's been easy to settle in here because they're all really kind, really open and I feel really safe here."

Martinez found the breakthrough for Hammers after 18 minutes after full-back Verena Hanshaw was allowed to race down the left flank and a left-footed cross towards the far post was headed home.

The visitors doubled their lead three minutes before the break with Martinez's brilliant left-footed finish into the top corner.

The 23-year-old then scored her third at the stroke of half-time after running on to a defence-splitting pass from Oona Siren, rounding Palace keeper Shae Yanez and passing the ball into the empty net.

Martinez added a fourth with her right foot in the 62nd minute to make it a perfect hat-trick.

She will now have her sights on the WSL golden boot, with only Khadija Shaw (12) and Alessia Russo (11) scoring more this season.

"I will try to keep scoring and we'll see what will be," added Martinez, when asked about the race for the award.

Viviane Asseyi brilliantly chipped Yanez from distance for the fifth goal, before a late Emma Harries double helped Skinner's seventh-placed side make it seven.

Stengal's 80th-minute penalty proved a mere consolation for the hapless hosts.

"I'm delighted, we scored seven goals, just the way the team was in the attack was outstanding," said West Ham manager Skinner.

"Shekiera has got four goals out of the game and we haven't had anyone at West Ham score four goals in a game before. It's a top job, the team has done really well."

With their biggest-ever WSL win, Skinner's side are now only two points behind Brighton in fifth spot. They will now hope to finish in the top five for the very first time with games against Villa and Leicester to follow.

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