A late goal claims a point for Palace

With Tottenham already crowned champions of the FA Premier reserve league South, Palace reserves knew they would be in for a tough game at Bromley's Hayes lane ground.

Despite coming under pressure for large amounts of the match, they still managed to record a very creditable 1-1 draw and remain in mid-table.

With a large pool of players available to them, Spurs selected a number of first team squad players, including Callum Davenport, Danny Murphy, Dean Marney, Andy Reid, Johnnie Jackson and Tom Huddlestone, quite a formidable line-up at this level.

Palace too though offered up football for several on the fringes of the first team currently, so Danny Granville made another appearance, as did Wayne Andrews, Gary
Borrowdale and Jon Macken.

Borrowdale lined up in the middle of defence, with Macken partnering Grabban in the forward positions. Andrews remained on the wing, with Anthony Straker pushed forward down the other flank.

Palace opened play with a good attempt on 2 minutes. From Welch's corner on the left, Gary Borrowdale met it with a header that was caught on the line by 'keeper Burch. Spurs reply 3 minutes later was to see Lee Barnard race onto a right wing ball, but he dragged his shot wide of the left hand Palace post.

Marney then blazed over the bar on 9 minutes following a corner on the left, and Palace replied in the 12th with another Welch corner from the left flank. After the headed defensive clearance, it was this time Straker who rose to head back into the 'keeper's arms.

Then in the 19th minute, Julian Speroni was called into action when he made a good catch from Davenport's header in the box on the left. With Spurs surging forward and Palace containing them just about, Huddlestone then outjumped Granville near the left post in the 32nd minute, but met the cross with a header wide of the post.

Palace sprung into action a couple of minutes later. Grabban chased a long ball forward and got a yard ahead of his marker, but as he got to the edge of the area with only goalie to beat, he scuffed his shot and it bobbled wide of the left hand post.

Just before half time the same player almost reached a pin point forward pass from Macken on the right, but was just beaten to the ball by the goalkeeper. Rounding off the half was the game's first goal as Tottenham took the lead in the 44th minute. Reacting quickly to a low pass from the left, Danny Murphy snapped off a low shot with power into the centre of the Palace net for 1-0.

A chance at either end opened the second period. First Spence got onto Andrews cross from the left with a header that didn't trouble the 'keeper, then Jackson (playing left back for the away side instead of his more accustomed left wing role) cut in from the left flank and fired a shot straight at Julian Speroni.

Palace's next notable attempt was from Andrews, who ran at the defender on the left wing and into an advanced position, before blasting an attempt over the bar.

Danny Murphy despite looking offside when he received the ball, then had a great chance to make it 2-0 in the 71st minute, but fluffed it. Dwelling on the ball for far too long whilst on the right of the area with only Speroni to beat, he allowed the Palace defence to recover and put the ball out for a corner with a well placed tackle. From that, Davenport ghosted in from outside the area unmarked and jumped high, only to see his header sail as equally high over the bar !

Then just when it seemed Palace might claim nothing from the game, they bagged an 85th minute equaliser.

From a corner on the right there was a melee of players that rose to meet the ball and it eventually turned out to be Captain Glenn Wilson whose head met it with a powered header throught the goalkeeper and into the centre of the net for 1-1.

The last few minutes played out without too much incident, and despite being under the hammer from an experienced side for large parts of the match, Palace weathered the storm well on the whole and were reasonable value for their point.

Next up at Bromley once again next week, will be a young Chelsea side.

Palace Team: (4-4-2) Speroni, Fray, Granville, Welch, Wilson (c), Borrowdale, Andrews, Spence, Grabban, Macken, Straker

Subs: (Not Used) Sherringham, Wilkinson, Kamara, Peltonen, J.Hughes


Match Stats:

Palace Shots/Headers: 8 (3 on target)
Tottenham Shots/Headers: 15 (3 on target)

Palace Free Kicks: 6
Tottenham Free Kicks: 9

Palace Corners: 4
Tottenham Corners: 5

Tottenham Crosses: 9
Palace Crosses: 3 (2 from left / 1 from right)
(Andrews 2, Grabban 1)

Scorer:
Wilson '85


Posted by alan