Palace stumble again against the Hatters

After conceding early to a suspiciously offside goal from Carlos Edwards, Palace never really got going until it was far too late.

We did wonder what might happen when Palace where unable to raise their game sufficently after the now almost traditional poor first half and today we got our answer. Luton were nothing special, but they were workmanlike and eager and got their just reward.

Debutant Shefti Kuqi did not impress at all and was hauled off shortly after the lively Rowan Vine put the game beyond Palace on the hour with a swivelling snapshot to the near post that left Gabor Kiraly flummoxed, although it was hard to blame him entirely after such shocking marking.

Palace staged a late rally and really should have had a penalty when a goalbound Mark Hudson effort was quite clearly man-handled away. Leon Cort also crashed the bar with a header from a corner, but James Scowcroft’s consolation header from a Tom Soares cross in the dying seconds came far too late to rescue anything for The Eagles.

With no wins in four games and Palace tumbling down the League, the tide appears to be on the turn for Peter Taylor. Tuesday’s home game against the much-fancied Saints will be a big one.

Palace: Kiraly, Butterfield (Freedman 62), Hudson, Cort, Granville, Soares, Fletcher (Hughes 38), McAnuff,Kennedy, Scowcroft, Kuqi (Morrison 62). Subs Not Used: Speroni, Lawrence.Booked: Scowcroft.
Goals: Scowcroft 90

Luton: Beresford, Foley, Barnett, Heikkinen, Davis, Edwards,Langley, Robinson, Emanuel, Vine (Feeney 85), Parkin. Subs Not Used: Brill, Morgan, Brkovic, Keane.

Goals: Edwards 2, Vine 61.

Att: 9,187
Ref: P Armstrong (Berkshire).


Posted by neil