Palace 4 – 2 Hull: Hat-trick Hero Phillips Roles Back the Years!

Three goals from Kevin Phillips and a strike from Wilfried Zaha produced a stylish and emphatic 4 – 2 victory at Selhurst Park. Palace’s push for automatic promotion gained momentum on Tuesday night as they stole a march on promotion rivals Hull City. Cutting the gap on second place to two points in the process.

The first half was pretty even with three changes from Friday night’s tight victory at Derby County. KG Dikgacoi played at right back for the injured Jazz Richards, Jacob Butterfield came in for Stephen Dobbie in midfield, and Jonny Williams started in place of Yannick Bolasie. The key change was that Kevin Phillips started alongside Glenn Murray for the first time and he took the opportunity to score a hat-trick.

It took Palace until first half stoppage time to take the lead from the penalty spot. The linesman awarded a penalty for a disputed hand ball by Jack Hobbs and Phillips dispatched the penalty. Ten minutes previously Glenn Murray had missed a spot kick awarded for a foul on Williams following a neat one-two in the box with Dean Moxey. Up until the goal for Palace, Hull had looked dangerous coming forward on the break. Ex Tiger Damien Delaney dealt with the attacking threat of Hull’s dangerous Egyptian imports well. He continued his excellent understanding with Peter Ramage. KG also did very well playing out of position at right back.

Hull’s keeper David Stockdale had a busy first half. He saved Glenn Murray’s penalty very well and was unlucky with Phillips’s penalty, getting a hand to his kick. Yet early in the match he started nervously. He dropped a Butterfield free kick at the feet of Peter Ramage, only to have his blushes spared by Ahmed Elmohamady’s goal line clearance. Key to the match was Palace’s attacking impetus. The speed of movement between Williams and Zaha and the interplay was truly fantastic and a joy to watch. Jedinak’s passing brought Phillips into the game, allowing him to play an increasingly dangerous and effective role in front of goal.

Some fantastic creative play from Wilfried Zaha allowed Phillips to complete his hat-trick with two goals in two minutes at the start of the second half. He left Stockdale flat footed, scuffing a shot into the net for his second goal of the game. Brilliantly converting a Zaha cross played along the floor after a great piece of skill from Zaha. Two minutes later Phillips completed his hat-trick. A deflected shot from distance looped over Stockdale to put Palace 3 – 0 up effectively ending the game as a contest.

Hull did score two well worked consolation goals. The first, a well worked looping header from Jay Simpson with the second scored by David Meylor. At 3 – 1 the introduction of Bolasie for hat-trick hero Phillips freshened things up and led to a fourth Palace goal. A brilliant Wilfried Zaha goal capped an excellent individual performance and was a clever run and dink over Stockdale at his near post. The goal meant Hull’s goal to make it 4 – 2 was mere consolation. Indeed substitute Dobbie could have made it five and Palace was so comfortable the result was never in doubt.

This result was a surprisingly comprehensive victory. An emphatic team performance from Crystal Palace neutralised Hull’s attacking threat imposing their style of play on Hull in a fashion they could not cope with. The win cuts the gap to the second automatic promotion place to two points, and even leaves winning the title an outside possibility. The return of Neil Warnock this weekend with Leeds United will be a tough game. I liked Warnock when he was at Palace, far more so then Steve Bruce as Warnock left the club in a fashion that certainly helped the club. His return along with the Brighton game a week later will be hard matches. The games will only be enjoyable if we take the points because everyone knows both Warnock, then Brighton will want to beat us.

This is the test of whether Palace is a playoff side or is indeed capable of automatic promotion. With Kevin Phillips notching up another career hat-trick to support Glenn Murray on a quiet night for Murray, you know it will be an exciting and enjoyable end to the season whatever happens. Kevin Phillips still brilliant at thirty nine!