Crystal Palace has bounced back from a disappointing performance against Tottenham with a 4-1 win over rivals Charlton Athletic at Selhurst Park on Wednesday.
Dwight Gayle scored a second half hat-trick that consisted of two penalties while Fraizer Campbell scored the opener. The only Charlton Athletic goal came from central defender Naby Sarr.
The Eagles dominated much of the early play, seeing plenty of chances with Wilfried Zaha enjoying a much better game than what he had against Spurs.
Despite those opportunities, it took until the second half for either team to open their account. Campbell opened the scoring just after the break, slotting past Charlton goalkeeper Nick Pope. This was Campbell’s first goal since February.
Campbell played a part in the second goal too, brought down in the penalty area by Alou Diarra. Dwight Gayle stepped up to the spot and converted, blasting the ball past Pope to double Palace’s lead in the 59th minute.
Charlton would hit back in the 65th minute. Johann Berg Gundmondsson delivered a corner into the area which Sarr rose to convert.
Palace were able to re-establish their two-goal lead after another penalty was given away. Diarra made a defensive error and, in trying to rectify it, brought down Gayle and was shown a red card by referee Neil Swarbrick. Gayle sent Pope the wrong way from the penalty spot and put the ball into the back of the net.
Pope blocked an attempt from Patrick Bamford after Gayle squared the ball across the box, but the winger did not waste his second chance for the hat-trick. Gayle rose above the Athletic defence to get on the end of a Lee Chung-yong ball, notching up his eighth League Cup goal in four appearances.
Crystal Palace assistant manager Keith Millen was happy with the performance of his strikers.
“It’s nice to have your forwards scoring. Dwight and Fraizer looked sharp all night,” Millen said.
“They both looked dangerous so that will give everyone a confidence boost and it’s nice to have some competition for the weekend.
“It was a performance that we wanted from the whole team, we had players who needed game time. We want to go as far as we can, we are in the last 16 and it’s been a while since we had a cup run.”
The win against Charlton sees Palace end a run that has seen them knocked out by second or third tier sides in four of the past five seasons.
Palace will face Manchester City at the Etihad on 27 or 28 October in the fourth round.
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