Leyton Orient 2 - 4 Palace

Tue Aug 21 2001 - League Cup

Crystal Palace progressed to the second round of the Worthington Cup after a hard-fought win over Leyton Orient.

The home side started well and hit the crossbar from Steve Watts and took the lead twice. On 29 minutes, Jeff Minton received an inch-perfect 50-yard ball from Scott Oakes and volleyed past Alex Kolinko in the Palace goal.

Clinton Morrison was set-up by Tommy Black to get the equaliser for Palace five minutes later.

Orient took the lead again on 37, when Kolinko's poorly-punched clearance fell to Scott Houghton, who returned the ball into an empty net.

Black, on 56 minutes, put the Eagles level. After that, Dean Smith and Minton both hit the woodwork in the space of two minutes. However, in the final seven minutes Palace booked their place in the next round through a Morrison back-heel (83) and Black on 86.

Man of the match: Morrison (Worked his socks off and was rewarded with two goals).

Post match comments:

Palace boss Steve Bruce praised the O's perfomance. He said: "All credit to Orient I thought they were terrific for a third division side.

"They played the game the right way, passed the ball and contributed to a fantastic cup tie.

"But we started the second half much better and created chance after chance and the longer the game went on the more comfortable we became."

From The Terrace Photos

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