Crystal Palace found success in the recent tour of South Africa, finishing second in the Cape Town Cup after losing 2-0 in the final to Sporting Lisbon.
The Eagles were able to get off to a flying start in their first game with a big win over local side Supersport United, scoring four goals in the opening half, the first coming in the third minute of the match. Chung-youg Lee put a corner into the box that found Scott Dann, who flicked a header toward goal before Mile Jedinak deflected it into the net.
The lead was doubled in the 17th minute. After a shanked clearance from Supersport’s goalkeeper Ronwen Williams found its way to Lee, the Korean placed the ball past the keeper after using his speed to get into a position to finish.
The game was wrapped up for Palace when they scored their third, Jordan Mutch broke away from Micheal Boxall on the right-wing to get in behind the Supersport defence, before he cut back on the inside and put the ball past Williams to score his first goal in a Palace shirt.
The fourth and final goal was scored in the 34th minute. Mutch this time turning provider after placing the ball into the box for Jason Puncheon and after his cross was deflected, Frazier Campbell was able to score at close range.
The best opportunity for the South African outfit came just after half-time. Former Wellington Phoenix striker Jeremy Brockie got a shot on target looking for the top corner, only for Palace shot stopper Wayne Hennessey to pull-off a diving save to prevent it finding the back of the net.
Crystal Palace coach Alan Pardew was pleased with the performance of his side.
“For us it’s another building block towards Norwich and we’re getting closer. We had some good performers today, Jordon Mutch had a good game, Chungy was the man of the match and Jason Puncheon – they were probably our three standout players. We’re now looking forward to the final on Sunday.
“It was the first time our players have played 90 minutes and about six finished the game today, which meant we ran out of energy a little bit towards the end but in the first half we were very fast and very clinical in our breaks and exploited some mistakes that Supersport made.”
The second game for Palace was a great display given the calibre of the opposition that they were up against. With Sporting Lisbon heading to the Champions League the fact that for much of the match were able to keep up with the Portugese giants is a noteworthy point on its own.
Crystal Palace started the game the brighter of the two sides, Mutch forcing a save from Lisbon goalkeeper Rui Patricio just two minutes into the match.
New signing Alex McCarthy was called into action as a looping free-kick into the area by Jefferson Nacimento nearly found its way into the net but a save from the custodian kept the deadlock intact.
The main threat of Sporting Lisbon was coming from Jefferson’s set pieces. Another curling effort from the edge of the box on the 37th minute looked troublesome, but once again McCarthy did well to get the ball over the bar.
From the start of the second-half Crystal Palace came out unchanged and started on the front foot. Puncheon used his pace to get down the wing and took a shot straight at Patricio. Yohan Cabaye also came close from a free kick after it was deflected by Joao Mario.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 70th minute. A free kick from Lisbon was given after a foul committed by Scott Dann. Fredy Montero stepped up to curl the ball towards goal, and despite the best effort from McCarthy, hit the back of the net.
Despite falling behind Palace, refused to lie down and went pushing for an equaliser. James McArthur nearly found it when he smashed a shot towards goal, however, Patricio pushed the ball around the post for a corner. The Eagles came close again, but the Portuguese goalkeeper showed why he is the most revered gloveman in the country when he denied Dann, who rose to get a header on target, but somehow Patricio was able to push it away from the bottom corner.
From there Sporting Lisbon went looking to double their lead with four minutes remaining in the game. A slip by Palace defender Joel Ward allowed Slimani to get towards goal with speed, and despite Ward catching up, he was unable to block a pass that found Montero who scored his second of the game.
Again Pardew was pleased with his team’s performances, despite the result.
“That was as close as a competitive game as you’ll get during pre-season,” Pardew said in the post-match press conference. “I’m so pleased with that game, it was just what we wanted. Of course not the result but that was a Europa League-standard quality game out there today on that pitch.”
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Although the manager was very outspoken about the officiating of the game, suggesting that it had a major bearing on the match.
“Unfortunately the referee had no concept of European football so almost every challenge was a free-kick and we’re not used to that and we probably gave away eight or nine free-kicks around our box and we usually average about two. In the end they managed to score one and that changed the game.”
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