Cardiff City 4 - 0 Palace

Sat Jul 28 2001 - Friendly

Crystal Palace crashed to a 4-0 defeat in the friendly against Cardiff City at Ninian Park.

Graham Kavanagh put the home side in front with a 25-yard free kick after 12 minutes, which curled straight into the top corner of the net.

Fifteen minutes later, Robert Earnshaw went on a run down the left, skinned Gregg Berhalter and buried his shot past Alex Kolinko in goal to make it 2-0.

A minute before the break, Dougie Freedman forced a top save from Cardiff keeper Alexander in Palace's only real chance of the half.

In the second half, Palace came out stronger. Alexander was at hand to force a double save from Jovan Kirovski and Clinton Morrison after good work from Freedman on the left.

Earnshaw tapped in his second from a Hamilton cross to the far post and minutes later got his hat-trick when a short Hayden Mullins back pass allowed Earnshaw to nip in and score.

Stephen Kabba and Freedman had chances to score but the game ended in a convincing win for the Welsh side and a woeful performance from the Eagles.

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