Crystal Palace 1 City 2
Report by Robin Weston
After witnessing the two drab 1-1 home draws with Ipswich and Portsmouth, spirits weren’t exactly high for the trip to Crystal Palace. The mood wasn’t helped when we read Pearson’s starting line up. Injury and illness had given starts to Kennedy, Tunchev, Danns and debutant Liam Moore. There were worries that our inexperienced defence could be torn apart by the youthful and pacy Palace forwards, but things turned out slightly differently….
City lined up in a 4-4-2, with Moore at right back and Tunchev at left back. Kennedy, despite being a left back by trade, was deployed on the left of midfield, with left Abe, King and Danns as a central three, with no real right midfielder to speak of. Schlupp and Nugent were paired together upfront.
The match started off slowly, with City looking to keep it tight at the back and break through the pace of Schlupp. Nothing much had happened, until out of the blue City went ahead midway through the first half. There was a touch of fortune about it, as Palace’s goalkeeper’s clearance hit the back of one of his own players and fell to the feet of Danns. He had plenty still to do, but cut onto his right foot and curled a sublime shot into the far corner from outside the area. It is worth noting that he chose not to celebrate, given that he had only departed Palace in the summer himself.
Despite the goal the pattern of the game remained unchanged, with Bamba and Mills keeping things solid at the back. Mills’ previously atrocious distribution from defence had miraculously improved, and he pinged several lovely cross field passes over to Kennedy on the opposite flank.
As the end of the half drew near, City found themselves 2-0 up. Schlupp’s persistence and pace won him a free kick just outside the area, Danns curled the ball into the area, Nugent flicked it towards the back post, and Bamba bundled it home. (Sol, Sol) Bamba was clearly determined to make up for Danns previous lack of celebration, and milked his goal for all it was worth in front of the travelling Leicester fans.
Just as we were contemplating going into the break two goals to the good, Palace pulled one back out of nothing. For once, Moore was caught out of position, and the Palace left back Parr (who I believe we were in for in the summer too) was played in on the edge of the area. The danger still appeared minimal, but with his right foot he curled the ball into the top far corner of Schmeichel’s net, giving him no chance. It looked like a lovely finish to be fair, but as this reporter is heavily biased, I’m going to say it was a mishit cross.
At half time City took off Tunchev and replaced him with Dyer. Tunchev was being given the run-around a bit at left back, so Kennedy dropped back to take his position. Chances were hard to come by, with Schmeichel only being called in to serious action once when he pushed a low Zaha shot away.
Nothing much else of note happened until the final ten minutes. Pearson brought on Howard and Beckford for Nugent and Schlupp, which was brave as he could have chosen to pack the midfield to see out the game. Bamba then got booked for dissent after conceding a dubious corner. He looked incensed, and had to be dragged away by King before he got himself sent off.
Taking Bamba’s lead, Howard then decided to do something rather stupid. After conceding his standard free kick whilst going up for a header, he obviously said something offensive to the linesman, and was given a straight red card. It’s not the first time he’s done something as brainless as this (I remember his two footed lunge at home to Watford a few seasons ago), and hopefully it’s his last. In my opinion he should never play for the club again, both due to his declining ability and the fact he potentially jeopardised what turned out to be a brilliant result with his idiocy.
So anyway, we had 5 minutes or so to hold out with 10 men. Kasper made one good save from Easter, but apart from that our defence comfortably dealt with everything Palace could muster (who it must be said looked poor for a side in playoff contention). Beckford could even have scored a couple on the break, but it wasn’t to be. The final whistle blew, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, and suddenly our season is looking back on track again. What a funny old game football can be!
Overall the team performance was good, but several players should be singled out for specific praise. Moore had a few shaky moments, but considering it was debut performed well. He did the simple things well, and was very deliberate in his passing and tackling.
Kennedy was fantastic, and kept the highly rated Zaha in his back pocket all game. He probably offers less than Konchesky offensively but it’s good to know we have a reliable backup at left-back. Bamba and Mills were solid, with Bamba especially looking more aggressive and assured than usual.
Abe was his usual model of calm in the middle and I lost count of the number of times he won the ball when it seemed he had no right to. Schlupp ran willingly all day, and I was very impressed with how Beckford applied himself when he came on. However, the man of the match has to be Danns, who got through a lot of work in midfield and came away with a goal and an assist.
All in all, a well deserved win and great start to 2012. It will be interesting to see how this translates into future performances given the likely changes in personnel to come through transfers and players returning to fitness.
City: Schmeichel, Mills, Bamba, Tunchev (Dyer 46), Moore, King, Abe, Danns, Kennedy, Schlupp (Beckford 76), Nugent (Howard 75). Unused subs: Gallagher, Weale.
Goals: Danns 18, Bamba 36
Booked: Bamba Sent off: Howard 87
Palace: Price, Clyne, Keinan, Ramage, Parr, O'Keefe (Ambrose 55), Jedinak, Garvan, Zaha, Murray (Easter 73), Scannell (Martin 72). Unused subs: Fitzsimons, Dikgacoi.
Goals: Parr 41
Attendance: 14,460 (1,255 away) Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight)
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation