A brace from
Glenn Murray and a penalty from Owen Garvan saw off Brighton 3 – 0 and sent
Palace back to the top of the Championship for twenty four hours at least. The
star of this fantastic Palace performance was the enigmatic fire cracker of a
winger Yannick Bolasie. Albion found Bolasie too hot to handle all afternoon
and when the tricky winger burst through on ten minutes he was brought down by
defender Lewis Dunk. Dunk saw red for preventing a goal scoring opportunity
giving Palace the man advantage for the remainder of the game. An advantage
they would not relinquish.
Spearheaded
by goal machine Glenn Murray Palace were energetic from the start pumped up by
the atmosphere of a vibrant Palace support and all the intensity of the A23
derby. Murray continues to find his goal scoring touch notching up goals
sixteen and seventeen for the season. He
has now scored nine goals in six matches since Ian Holloway took up the reigns
as palace boss against Ipswich Town. To a large extent Murray was unplayable
despite only just making the pitch from his sickbed. On thirty eight minutes a
flying near post glancing header off a corner gave Palace the lead their
dominance deserved. Brighton packed ten men behind the ball in a vain attempt
to subdue Palace’s attacking intensity yet ultimately Bolasie and Zaha proved
too skilful.
Mile Jedinak
strong in midweek in Hull was a rock in midfield and supported by KG Dikgacoi we
flooded the midfield and Brighton’s ten men could not cope with the attacking intensity.
Garvan played the playmaker role and Bolasie and Zaha burst forward at will on
the wings with Ward and Parr providing support from the fullback positions. This
wing tenacity led to the first of two penalties on fifty four minutes from
which Murray scored his second ending the game as a contest. At this point
Moritz replaced fullback Ward who was excellent in defence but showed the
managers intent with what was an attacking substitution.
Ian Holloway is an experienced head as a manager and in the
matches I have watched at Selhurst since he has taken over he likes to make
attacking substitutions. On this occasion it was rewarded as Palace’s attacking
play earned a second penalty on seventy one minutes. Murray was fouled in the
box and in an act of valour Brighton did not deserve described as professionalism
by Holloway, Murray passed up the opportunity of a hat-trick against his former
club, allowing Garvan to score the penalty. Albion supporters were again petty towards
Murray he was once their hero who had got them promoted from league one. Even
so Murray showed his class by not celebrating his goals in front of the
Brighton fans despite provocation. It truly was a fantastic performance by
Murray and Bolasie individually and the team in general especially when you
consider Wilbraham replaced Murray on seventy four minutes as the superb centre
forward was struggling with sickness.
Holloways
philosophy is going down well with the Palace faithful and there is little more
Holloway can do to endear himself to supporters than beat Brighton 3 – 0 at
home. By carrying on the momentum of the season with subtle tactical changes to
get to the forty point mark before any other team in the Championship then
promotion is a definite possibility. Indeed Holloway is more than aware of how
fortunate he is to inherit such a talented professional squad from his
predecessor. That is why he is determined to work hard to complete the job with
the team that Dougie built.
Massive
credit should go to the entire team for bouncing back from a tough week in
Yorkshire to return themselves to the top of the league. Next comes Blackpool
to join the party and that match holds its own intrigue all for its own
reasons. Especially for our new hero jolly Ollie! Thanks very much lads.
Eagles!!
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