December 8 2008

Shefki Kuqi

Crystal Palace moved into the Championship play-off spots with a resounding 3-0 win at home to Southampton.

In-form Shefki Kuqi, Craig Beattie and substitute Paul Ifill were all on target with excellent strikes.

Palace burst out of the blocks and could have taken the lead in the opening seconds as Nick Carle surged into the area but left-back Rudi Skacel slid in with an inch-perfect tackle.

Then Kuqi fired Palace ahead in the ninth minute when Nathaniel Clyne floated a long ball into the edge of the box, Kuqi muscled Saints centre-half Alex Pearce out of the way to control on his chest, before lofting the ball over Kelvin Davis to score.

Six minutes later, the lead was stretched thanks to a strike from on-loan West Brom forward Beattie. Jose Fonte got a head on John Oster's corner and the ball fell into the path of Beattie who drove a powerful shot into the top left corner.

Southampton fought their way back into the match with lots of possession but failed to really trouble Julian Speroni in the Palace goal. The Eagles stopper just had to be on his guard to keep out Jordan Robertson's effort.

Palace ensured all three points were safely in the bag with the third goal on 75 minutes. Speroni launched a huge kick upfield and when Saints defender Lloyd James miscontroled the ball, sub Ifill took advantage to blast a left-fott shot into the roof of the net.

Palace: Speroni, Clyne, McCarthy, Fonte, Hill, Carle, Watson (Derry 30), Oster (Butterfield 48), Beattie, Kuqi, Scannell (Ifill 66).

Not Used: Lee, Moses.

Southampton: Davis, James, Perry, Pearce (Wotton 46), Skacel, Surman, Lallana, Cork, Wright-Phillips (Gasmi 81), McGoldrick, Robertson (Mills 69).

Not Used: Bialkowski, Paterson.

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