Palace continue their unbeaten pre-season


And so to the second match in the UK for Palace's pre-season push, and a stern test against a Swindon Town outfit who were looking to impress new bosses Dennis Wise and Gustavo Poyet.

After the abandonment of the LA Galaxy team, Peter Taylor un-suprisingly opted to largely play a different team in each half once again.

With Dougie Freedman missing through injury, Palace's line-up saw the return of Sandor Torghelle up front alongside Jon Macken. Mark Kennedy was given a UK debut, as was Scott Flinders, but there was an otherwise familiar look about the Palace side with Tom Soares once again restored to his rightful central midfield spot alongside Ben Watson.

Some early probing at both ends of the pitch saw no chances until the 12th minute when Smith for Swindon toe poked a shot wide of the right hand post, after he'd received a cross from the right wing. With 18 minutes on the clock, Palace's first half chance opened up as Kennedy slipped inside the nearest defender from the left wing, but his shot from outside the box cannoned back off the head of the nearest Swindon man and to safety.

A better chance presented itself a minute after. Torghelle whipped in a curling cross from right flank to near post, and Macken's outstretched boot around the defender hooked it goalward, but into the arms of goalkeeper Brezovan.

Swindon were beginning to show some pace up front, and opened up a few chances down the left hand side of the Palace team through a series of long balls to the winger. One of these chances resulted in a cross from Roberts on that flank, that was nodded behind by Danny Butterfield at the far post for a corner.

In was another long ball forward that opened up the Palace defence in the 27th minute and gave the home side the lead. Monkhouse (ex of Rotherham) sprayed a ball over the top towards the left of the area, and with Darren Ward a yard or so too far off his man, Roberts opened the scoring with a low well drilled shot into the bottom right corner that gave the diving Scott Flinders no chance of reaching.

Seven minutes later and the lead was 2-0. This time the Robins won a corner on the left, and whilst it was initially cleared, Weston's return cross was met by Granville's outstreched foot that teed up Swindon's Ifil nicely to lash a shot straight into the middle of the net, and past Flinders arm.

The deficit urged Palace into action a bit more. Just prior to that, Kennedy and the anonymous McAnuff swapped flanks, and then on 37 minutes Danny Granville tried a drive from 30 yards, that almost clipped the top of the crossbar.

Palace tried again on 40. Kennedy struck an inswinging corner from the left, and after a headed clearance, Watson prodded a low shot wide of the right goalpost.

From the keeper's goalkick, Palace clawed themselves back into the match. Shrugging off the attention's of the two defenders around him, Torghelle set off forward and away from the defence with a powerful run toward goal that left the Swindon players trailing in his wake. Then from just inside the area as the goalkeeper started to come out, he struck a powerful low drive into the bottom right side of the goal to make it 2-1.

That was the last action of the half, which had once again seen Palace try to play the ball around with short sharp passing movements, and the expected changes came during the break.

The Palace team lined up as you would expect for the 2nd period, with Marco Reich filling the left hand midfield place, and Michael Hughes operating in a roaming central midfield berth.

It was on 50 minutes, as Palace started quick out of the traps, that Grabban sped away from his marker on the left wing towards the box and presented Morrison with a good chance. A short pass was played and Clinton turned and spun on the ball, only to see his shot drift just wide of the right post.

Only two minutes later, the strike of the match saw Palace draw level. Whilst he's attempted similar in the past without any joy (occasionally from distance), Gary Borrowdale from no-where hit a left footed rocket from some 30 yards or so out that flew into the top right hand corner of the net, to make it 2-2 and delight the Palace end, plus his team mates.

Swindon responded in the 63rd minute with a bit more urgency following the two Palace strikes, as Holgate struck a shot from around 20 yards that skimmed the top of the net. They went closer still a moment of two later. Hudson was beaten by some approach work on the left wing, and after the ball was laid back to Swindon's Brownlie, he smashed a shot back off the crossbar from around 8 yards away.

The 68th minute saw Palace respond. Morrison cut the ball back to Watson, and as with before he hit another shot that drifted wide of the goalpost.

Next came an 80th minute attempt that should have side the home side regain the lead. Substitute Fola Onibuje, who was big and powerful and looked a handful (without really threatening too much though) outpaced Cort through the middle as he went goalbound and into the area. Kiraly came out half heartedly and tried to tackle him rather than opting to use his hands, but the big forward got around him and drifted too wide. He did however managed to cut the ball back towards goal, but
by now Cort had sped back and cleared off the line for a corner.

Swindon also claimed next two chances, as the game reached it's conclusion. First off, was a shot from the right, that curled past the post, then Brownlie on the left side of
midfield also curled a shot goalbound from around 18 yards out, that Kiraly reacted well to and palmed over the bar.

Last piece of match action though fell to Palace, who could have snatched a win in the final moments. Fray skipped over a defender on the right wing, and moved inside so that he could play Grabban into the area, who was peeling off his marker. The young Palace striker shimmied left and found space centrally, but unfortunately ballooned his effort well over the bar.

All in all, a good test for Palace. Swindon showed their intent early on, and had a lot of pace throughout their forward line, that proved a good test for the Eagles first team squad.

Observations are as follows: Palace once again played short passing football. What was notably missing from the forward line, was someone to run onto the short balls they are now playing, which is ironic considering who has just been sold.

There were one or two possible signs of a partnership from Macken and Torghelle, but obviously this is the first time the two players have played in the same team. Neither got much from the referee though, as both were victims of a foot from behind quite often during the match with their back's to goal.

Jobi McAnuff was very quiet and anonymous, and Ben Watson looked half asleep at times with his sloppy passing and really does need to work on his match awareness.

Michael Hughes was his usual engergetic self trying to run the midfield, and Grabban looked lively and alert through the second half, operating quite often from the left flank (injury to Reich perhaps? – who didn't impact the game and was off the pitch before the final whistle).

Tommy Black looked bright to start with, but gave up too easily, whilst Scott Flinders show some very safe handling, and couldn't do anything to stop either goal.

The central defensive partnering of Hudson and Cort looks more solid than that of Ward and Cort, and whilst both may have occassionally been beaten, both Hudson and Cort recovered well and tracked back to make covers. Both seem to hold the same line well too. Danny Granville looked off the pace a little, but also made a couple of good interceptions, whilst Gary Borrowdale was solid as his replacement, and can we have more of those left footed thunderbolts please !?

After a good 15 minutes or so, Mark Kennedy faded, but overall there was nothing too worrysome in what was another try out for a new look Palace side looking to experiment before the season gets under way in full.


Palace Team: Flinders, Butterfield, Cort, Ward, Granville, McAnuff, Soares, Watson,
Kennedy (c), Macken, Torghelle

Palace Team: (2nd half) Kiraly, Fray, Cort, Hudson, Borrowdale, Black, Hughes, Watson (c), Reich, Grabban, Morrison

Subs: Sheringham, Spence (For Reich '82)

Match Stats:

Palace Shots/Headers: 9 (3 on target)
Swindon Shots/Headers: 9 (4 on target)

Palace Corners: 7
Swindon Corners: 5

Palace Free Kicks: 6
Swindon Free Kicks: 8

Swindon Crosses: 12
Palace Crosses: 12 (8 from right / 4 from left)
(Black 3, WATson 2, Butterfield 1, Torghelle 1, Macken 1, Hughes 1, Reich 1, Spence 1,
Grabban 1)

Palace Scorers: Torghelle ('41), Borrowdale ('52)


Posted by alan