July 28 2004

Tony Popovic

Crystal Palace slayed the Lions of Sporting Lisbon with a 1-0 victory at Selhurst Park.

It was the proverbial game of two halfs - as Lisbon dominated the opening period and let their foot off the gas to allow Palace back into it in the second half.

The Portugues giants featured Hugo Viana - on a season-long loan from Newcastle - and a number of Portugal internationals on the bench.

They dominated the first half and had Palace chasing shadows with some fantastic slick pass and move football. The Eagles struggled to get out of their own half and conceded a number of corners early on.

Palace cleared their lines well and Julian Speroni was on hand to collect Carlos Martins' fizzing shot from one flag kick. Then captain Danny Butterfield stopped lively Brazilian Tinga from scoring with a good blocked tackle as he shaped up to shoot from eight yards.

Shaun Derry and Tommy Black got booked for bad fouls before ironic cheers greeted Palace's first corner of the game on 37 minutes.

Four minutes later, Ben Watson got Palace's first real effort on goal when he turned a defender on the edge of the box and fired a weak effort at keeper Tiago.

Seconds afterwards, a great bit of skill by Wayne Routledge gave himself a bit of space and he released Dougie Freedman with a defence-splitting pass. With the Scot through on goal, he opted to round Tiago, but the keeper managed to stretch out an arm and claw the ball to safety.

He had to be on his guard soon after to palm away Routledge's swerving cross-cum-shot from the right.

From the resulting corner, Lisbon broke clear and Douala found himself in a similar situation to Freedman with just the keeper Speroni to beat. Luckily for Palace, he sliced his shot high into the Holmesdale Stand.

Palace should have scored a minute into the second half, when Freedman's left-sided cross was scuffed by second half sub Gareth Williams and Tommy Black fired at the keeper.

Black set up Watson, whose fierce drive was pushed away by Tiago and a few minutes later, Black dinked a delightful ball to Freedman, unmarked in the box, but Tiago came out to save his header.

Lisbon had a couple of chances to score themselves - Danny hit the side netting with a low drive and Viana went close with a strike from the edge of the box.

Second half sub Tony Popovic got what proved to tbe the winning goal in the 71st minute with a header from a Joonas Kolkka corner. His looping header at the far post bounced into the danger area but deceieved the keeper as Williams tried to get a final touch as it went over the line.

Palace: Speroni, Butterfield, Borrowdale, Powell (Popovic 46), Boyce (Togwell 71), Derry (Hughes 63), Watson (Riihilahti 67), Routledge (Williams 46), Freedman (Soares 71), Black, Kolkka.

Sub not used: Berthelin.

Palace v Sporting photos