Match report from Tuesday's game at Beckenham

Originally this match was due to be played at Orient's Brisbane road ground, but With the East London outfit staging the women's F.A cup final, and Palace's home ground of Bromley hosting a midweek clash between they and Cray Wanderers, this week's reserve match (yesterday the 26th) ended up being played behind closed doors at Palace's Beckenham training ground on a sunny but windy afternoon.

Despite fielding a strong line-up, and welcoming both Tony Craig and Arron Fray (pictured) back from injury, an indifferent 2nd half performance saw the Eagles defeated 3-1 under the watching eye of manager Neil Warnock.

Once again in goal was Ashford Town trialist Craig Ross, while up front both Dougie Freedman and Victor Moses supported Sean Scannell from slightly deeper positions, with Moses mainly in this role early on.

The O's team comprised mainly of youngsters, but did also include midfielder Sean Thornton who had several seasons ago been playing at the highest level in the game.

Palace 'keeper Ross was first called into action on 11 minutes, when he backpedalled to tip over Loick Pires
header following a free kick from the left. Six minutes later the Eagles sprung to life and had the lead.

Dispossessing Orient on the left wing, the talented Victor Moses cut inside and let fly with a curling 20 yard shot that flew in off the right hand post, giving the diving O's stopper no chance of a save.

Two minutes after Ashley Robinson unleashed an effort from the right as he got forward. This attempt (from the edge of the area) was several yards over though. Palace then lost the returning Arron Fray (making his first start of the season), who appeared to be unable to continue, despite not receiving any injury on the field. His replacement was Aaron Dalhouse, and as in the previous game the centre back filled in on the right of defence.

Then in the 21st minute from Jamie Smith's free kick on the left (following a foul on Moses), Jose Fonte cushioned a header just passed the right goal post.

Just as Palace began to get a good foothold in the game, they conceeded an unfortunate equaliser.

With 28 minutes on the clock the O's won a corner following a free kick given away by Fonte. From that the ball arrived just outside the area to Sean Thornton, who teed up a low shot on goal. With Craig Ross diving the right way, he looked to have the ball covered until it took a deflection off of Bradley Gray's ankle, which steered the ball slightly to the left and into the corner of the net for 1-1.

It got worse for the Eagles just before half time, when on 40 minutes midfielder Andy Barcham broke into the area on the left past Fonte, and fired a low shot into the back of the net to give Orient the lead.

Last effort of the half fell to Palace, when Jamie Smith teed up a shot on goal from a free kick on the left,
following a foul on Victor Moses. Struck without too much pace or placement, the effort was easily scooped up by the Orient goalie.

It was almost 10 minutes into the 2nd period before things livened up, with Orient doing most of the forward probing. Thornton hit a low shot wide of goal on 54 minutes, and a minute after that Wayne Gordon tried his luck from 25 yards out with a chip shot, that flew just over the Palace bar.

It was a good 15 minutes before Palace got in the game at all, when on 71, Ashley Robinson struck a goalbound effort straight at 'keeper Morris.

Ross then made a save at his near post from a shot on the left by substitute Harry Baker, but the away side sealed
the points with 4 minutes still on the clock.

From a cross over on the left flank, the Palace defence failed to scramble the ball away at the far post and it was left for Wayne Gordon to poke a low shot under Ross at the right hand post from around 8 or 9 yards out.

A fairly flat and disappointing 2nd half Palace display. Despite some spark in the forward play from Scannell and Moses during the opening 45 minutes, things failed to click during the 2nd half.

Palace reserves now have a break of almost a month before the next fixture, although it's possible the yet to be arranged Wycombe away match could fill this gap at some point during then.

Palace Team: Ross, Fray, Craig, Adelakun, Swaibu, Fonte, Robinson, Smith, Freedman, Scannell, Moses

Subs: Kudjodji, Edwards (For Fonte '57), Sweeney (For Adelakun '79), Dalhouse (For Fray '17), Jupp


Match Stats:
Palace Shots/Headers: 6 (3 on target)
Orient Shots/Headers: 10 (6 on target)

Palace Corners: 2
Orient Corners: 6

Palace Free Kicks: 5
Orient Free Kicks: 9

Palace Crosses: 9 (7 from right / 2 from left)
(Robinson 4, Craig 2, Smith 1, Scannell 1, Dalhouse 1)
Orient Crosses: 5


Posted by alan