Full match report from the first game of the season

Whilst the Palace first team may have had a bit of a stutter to the start of the new campaign, the reserves showed no such problem last night (10/8) with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Coventry City in the first
FA Premier reserve league South fixture of the season.

The Sky blues and Palace both had young line-ups on show, but Palace were able to add a bit more steel than their opponents, with Tommy Black, Danny Granville and Tony Popovic all playing in an attempt to regain fitness.

On the other side of the fence we had the much travelled Andy Impey plus ex-Arsenal youngster Graham Barrett, but the visitors rarely troubled the Palace defence.

Palace began brightly, with Louis Grabban up front and Tommy Black alongside him. Aaron Fray was drafted into central defence.

On two minutes, Grabban lofted a shot over the bar. Down the Palace end, Speroni then had to tip a header over the bar from close range, after a deflected Coventry free kick from outside the box.

Ten minutes later, the Eagles had the lead. Berry whipped in a right footed cross from that side of the field, and Tommy Black met it with a header from 5 yards or so into the left hand side of the net. Four minutes after the re-start it was two, courtesy of the same player.

A back pass was mis-controlled by Coventry 'keeper Brush, but he managed to scramble the ball away slightly. However, it only fell to Grabban, who returned a low ball toward goal that was then met by Black's shot into the roof of the net for his and Palace's second.

Moments later Danze struck a shot straight at the 'keeper before the 28th minute saw Black claim a hat trick. A clever lofted ball forward from Ryan Hall on the left,
resulted in a deft backwards Black header from the rising Palace forward that looped over the 'keeper's outstretched hand and into goal.

A rare Coventry sortee forward then ended with Julian Speroni making a diving save to his left after the re-start, but right after the half hour mark the eager Eagles
queing up to go forward, bagged a fourth.

Tommy Black's through ball played on Tyrone Berry, and from the left he attempted to go round the goalie. The young 'keeper got an outstretched leg to it, but the
covering Coventry defender then allowed himself to be robbed of the ball by Berry who then slotted a low drive under the 'keeper for 4-0.

Coventry's Davis then had a run at goal on 41 minutes and shot wide of the right hand Palace goal post to finish the half.

Predictably, as is often the case in games where one side rushes into a strong lead, the tempo dropped off a bit for the second half, and Coventry tried to cover their
blushes by not losing more heavily.

First attempt of the second period came to Danny Butterfield, who fizzed a shot into the 'keeper's arms from the right hand side. Six minutes after, Ryan Hall had a similar effort from the other wing, but again it was at the goalkeeper.

A dipping shot from the same player followed four minutes later over the bar, but apart from a goalscoring chance almost on full time when the Coventry 'keeper blocked Tommy
Black's close range stab at goal, the game had already been won and Palace played out most of the half attacking from the wings.

Good solid start, next week is West Ham away.


Palace Team: (4-4-2) Speroni, Butterfield, Granville, Togwell, Fray, Popovic, Berry, Danze, Grabban, Black, R.Hall

Subs: Wilson (For Popovic '65), Wilkinson, Simpson (For Granville '80), Welch (For Danze '58), Spence


Match Stats:

Palace Shots/Headers: 13 (9 on target)
Coventry Shots/Headers: 10 (3 on target)

Palace Corner Kicks: 3
Coventry Corner Kicks: 6

Palace Free Kicks: 3
Coventry Free Kicks: 8

Coventry Crosses: 4
Palace Crosses: 12 (4 from left / 8 from right)
(Berry 4, Butterfield 3, Black 2, Hall 1, Granville 1, Simpson 1)

Palace Scorers: Black ('14, '18, '28), Berry ('31)


Posted by alan