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April 20 2024 4.18am

Palace 7 - 0 Cheltenham

Wed Oct 2 2002 - League Cup

Crystal Palace comfortably moved into the third round of the Worthington Cup after thrashing Cheltenham Town 7-0 at Selhurst Park.

Six of the goals came in the second half in one of the Eagles' biggest-ever wins.

Match Stats

Ground: Selhurst Park (Attendance: 4901)

Palace: Michopoulos, Granville, Butterfield, Popovic (Antwi, 67), Powell (Austin, 23), Mullins, Derry, Black (Gray, 45), Routledge, Freedman, Adebola

Subs not used: Scheuer, Williams

Goals: Adebola 21, Mullins 47, Popovic 53, Freedman 55, Adebola 74, Walker (o.g.) 75, Freedman 90

Cheltenham: Book, Griffin, Victory, Mike Duff, Walker, Yates, Milton, McAuley (Williams, 13), Finnigan, Naylor, Alsop

Subs not used: Higgs, Brayson, Spencer, Jones

Referee: Richard Beeby (Northampton)

Dele Adebola started the rout with his first Palace goal after 24 minutes. Dougie Freedman latched onto a throughball, his weak shot was saved by the keeper onto the post and Adebola was on hand to score.

Just two minutes into the second half, Hayden Mullins continued his goalscoring form when he headed home Wayne Routledge's right-wing cross at the near post.

In the 54th minute, Tony Popovic got his third goal of the season when he headed Danny Butterfield's corner into the back of the net at the back post.

Only two minutes after, Freedman was put through by Mullins and he made no mistake, slotting past the oncoming Book.

Adebola got his second and Palace's fifth in the 74th minute, heading Routledge's corner from close range.

Goal six came seconds later when Julian Gray's left-wing cross from the byline cannoned off a Cheltenham defender and into the back of the net.

The magnificent seventh goal came in the last minute thanks to a cheeky Freedman knee-in. He beat the offside trap, rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into the net with his knee.

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