If ever the cliché ‘a game of two halves’ was appropriate, then it was at Selhurst Park for an entertaining match between two fierce rivals, Palace and Brighton, for the Professional Development League Division 2 match.

The first half was a somewhat dull affair, with little action during an evenly contested match.

However, the Seagulls took the lead as Palace’s defence backed off striker George Barker, allowing the Albion man to fire a 25 yard thunderbolt which crashed against the bar, only to rebound against the unfortunate Lewis Price and into the path of Goodwin, who slotted into an empty net.

Palace didn’t show any signs of waking up, and Albion doubled their lead after more good work down the Palace left by Barker. The youngster jinked his way past Quade Taylor and Ryan Inniss, firing a shot in from the narrowest of angles, only to see Price parry, but Asmundsson was there to tap home Brighton’s second of the evening.

The away side continued to dominate, with Courtney Richards’ free kick almost making it three. Next to test Palace was Brennan Dickenson who saw his shot tipped around the post by Lewis Price. The Seagulls were totally in control of the match, with Palace struggling to get out of their own half.

Soon after the restart Palace had half hearted appeals for a penalty after Allassani fell in the box, but the referee waved play on.

It took the introduction of Connor Dymond and Nabil Guedioura, brother of Adlene, to really spark the match into life. Dymond’s surging runs and energy invigorated a lethargic looking Palace side, with the midfielder pulling the strings from a deep position.

Shortly after their introduction, Ryan Inniss’ poor pass allowed Emil Asmundssen in on goal, but the striker checked his run and Palace’s defence recovered before he was able to pull the trigger.

Dymond introduced himself to the game with a silky piece of skill. The ball was cleared out of the Brighton area and he casually flicked his foot behind him to volley it, before attempting a scissor kick which flew narrowly over the bar. Dymond’s introduction rallied Palace and some good work from Kyle De Silva gave Ibra Sekajja the chance to score from close range, but the striker could only put his shot over the bar.

De Silva was involved again when his quick free kick sent Nabil Guedioura clean through on goal and the younger brother of summer signing Adlene kept his cool to pull a goal back for the Eagles. Connor Dymond then played in Quade Taylor down the right, and his left footed shot was well saved by the Brighton ‘keeper, only for Guedioura to grab his second goal of the game and pull Palace level.

Just when it seemed Brighton had weathered the storm created by Palace’s ultra attacking performance late in the second half, the ball fell to Kyle De Silva on the edge of the area, but his left footed shot cannoned back off the post. Even then, the game was not over as with the last touch of the match, Guedioura stumbled and fired a shot into the body of the ‘keeper, with Palace being denied what would have been a sensational victory.  

The pain of losing a hard-won point right at the death is not a new one but it never gets any better with experience. Palace showed that they could go toe-to-toe with the big boys (wouldn’t it be easier for City if they replaced the players numbers with the prices in £m?) for long periods, and that organisation and hard work will take you a long way, but whereas last season we had the rub of the green, Dame Fortune kept her revenge until the last seconds of normal time.

Palace were missing Ward, Delaney & Wickham through injury, so in came Kelly, Hangeland and Bolasie. Four wingers and no recognised striker? I daresay if Murray had still been around he would have started, but Pardew passed up the claims of Gayle & Campbell while Bamford didn’t even make the bench. Instead Bolasie played through the middle, although he often drifted out to the right, while Puncheon played in the hole, Sako on the right & Zaha on the left. And Palace went straight for City’s throat, forcing, forcing corners and having shots from Bolasie & Cabaye blocked or just wide. The standard was set for the first half which was a brilliant advert for the Premier League played with precision and never ceasing pace by both teams. City bounced back with a chance for Bony before they cut Palace apart straight down the middle only for McCarthy to bail out his defence winning a one-on-one with Nasri.

The half continued, punch & counter-punch. Bolasie was a livewire and forced another save from Hart, as well as later missing a far post volley, while Souaré cutting in from the left beat the keeper but not the far post. City’s game suffered a blow when a mistimed & nasty looking challenge cleaned out Agüero, who didn’t last long after that; his replacement was the cut-price (€80m?) De Bruyne. Touré took revenge with a touchline lunge on McArthur that fortunately didn’t make hard contact. City started to monopolise the ball in the latter part of the half, making inroads down our right side, and McCarthy had to make two swift blocks with the help of the hard-working defence. Palace were hard-pressed with Sako barely registering as a presence on the right while Wilf wasn’t on his game down the left, being flagged offside several times, even when switching wings late on. The half ended with McCarthy making a good save from €80m and Bolasie’s far post miss. City had struggled to pick up Palace’s system, akin to Spain or Barcelona playing the “false number 9”, and balls to feet or over the top always had them worried despite their increasing pressure. (Palace fans have been used to the concept for years: Chris Jones, Andy McCulloch, Tony Mahoney, Trevor Aylott, Ally Brown... we used false forwards decades ago!)

On the restart there was one obvious change to City’s tactics. Where they had been happy to allow Palace to pass the ball around at the back relatively untroubled, now they pressed high up the pitch, and started to intercept more Palace moves the wrong side of the halfway line from our perspective. Wilf had now switched to the right and he soon set up a chance with a deep cross that saw Hart save the cutback (Sako or Bolasie?) but it was an isolated chance for now. Weird then that City’s best chance actually came from our set piece when Navas was set free; McCarthy didn’t commit himself but was still beaten only for Jesus to save us by hitting the side netting after rounding the keeper; we did enjoy setting our Mancunian cousins straight as they thought it was in. City now had an awful lot of the ball, often facing a 9-man defence, much as they did last year, but despite that they had precious few chances & McCarthy didn’t have a difficult save to make. We were however forced back, often holding a line about 30 yards from goal. By now Sako was withdrawn for Gayle, and one excellent break down the left saw Souaré’s cross find Puncheon’s head, only for Hart to deny us with a fine save. Zaha, whose first half performance had disappointed, now looked our best chance to break the deadlock, one superb turn (aided by a run off the ball by Kelly) sending two City players off towards Fort Neef while he bore down on the area. Note the involvement of both full backs in these attacks; we might have been defending in numbers but still looked to push up on the break.

The arrival of Jedinak for Bolasie made good sense, and then Puncheon limped off after a nasty foul by Mangala to be replaced by Lee. Both new arrivals brought fresh legs to a midfield that needed them – the amount of hard work put in off the ball by McArthur & Cabaye was immense, not just closing down players but also moving to cut out a potential easy pass. Still City seemed encamped around our area and it looked inevitable that one of their quick passing moves would catch us out. So it was galling to see Palace miss a golden chance, Zaha’s run and excellent cross saw Gayle free in the  middle – not sure how much he had to stretch for the ball but he got too hard a touch and sent the ball past the near post. Punishment was swift and annoyingly we had chances to shut City down, twice passing up chances on our right flank to clear and conceding a throw-in on the left. Finally Nasri worked a clear chance on goal, and although his show was hard & low, McCarthy at full stretch did get both hands to the ball only for it to run free; the sub Iheanacho who had been on the pitch for about a minute prodded the ball home almost exactly on the 90 minutes mark. Despite having around 6 minutes stoppage time and throwing Hangeland up front it was City who wasted good chances to seal the win, Touré somehow missing a header from about 18 inches out. At the end you could argue that City’s control of the ball & territory in the second half found its reward, but not only was a draw snatched away cruelly, a win had been only a true contact from Dwight’s boot away.

McCarthy – 7 – Faultless until the last, when I think he really should have held the ball having got both hands on it. His one-on-one’s with Nasri & Navas kept us in the game early in both halves, and his other saves were good if routine.

Kelly – 6 – Another who performed well for 89 minutes but really should have dealt with City’s threat down the right that led indirectly to their winner.

Souaré – 7 – A good game although came under increasing pressure down our left in the second half. Defensively sound and adds verve to our attack, his run & cross to set up Puncheon was perfect.

Hangeland – 6 – Another who could have snuffed out City’s attack before their goal. Looked solid & in the first half comfortable with the ball at his feet, but when pressed in the second coughed up possession a few times.

Dann – 7 – The defensive organiser who put Agüero out of the match with what I hope was a mistimed but scything tackle and a deserved yellow card. To play for 70+ minutes against England’s “best” (should that be “probably most expensive”?) and never allow them a real glimpse of goal inside the area without looking remotely like receiving a second caution emphasizes his class.

McArthur – 7 – Stakhanovite in midfield doing a lot of the hard but unglamorous graft but also using the ball well.

Cabaye – 7 – I am still amazed at the amount of off-the-ball work our “luxury” player does. Also showed he can open a defence up with some perceptive through balls, but sadly Sako & Puncheon weren’t quite on the same wavelength.

Puncheon – 6 – Mixed from Jason who had some good touches in the first half but also gave the ball away, often inside our half. Fine header denied by Hart in the second.

Sako – 5 – The one disappointment was that Bakary couldn’t repeat his displays against Villa & Chelsea – perhaps inconsistency is one of the reasons no-one picked him up from Wolves?

Zaha – 7 – Underwhelming in the first half where he had openings but couldn’t work an opening for him or a colleague. Outstanding in the second when he created three good chances and often broke free from two markers.

Bolasie – 6 – Good in the first half when he made openings down our right although his shooting was mostly off target. In the second as we feel deep he found the ball mostly delivered in the air & although he did some hard work it was mostly easy for City to isolate him & pick up the ball.

Gayle – 6 – Some bright moments and I really can’t judge how good a chance it was at the death (from the Whitehorse I’ve no idea how far the ball was ahead of him).

Jedinak – 6 – Some solid work in midfield when he came on, then needed at centre back with Brede up front.

Lee – 6 – Fresh legs might have made a crucial difference but sadly had little chance in short period on pitch

Few would have imagined the pandemonium that followed Saturday's final whistle prior to the match - but a monumental performance saw the Eagles through. Mark Gardiner takes a detailed look at the Palace display.

I’ve seen some of football’s great citadels fall to the Palace – Old Trafford, Highbury, the Withdean... so it was about time Stamford Bridge joined that list. Two hoodoo’s dating back to the 1980’s dispelled in one week (actually Shrewsbury is still the one to wake me in cold sweats). And I thought the highlight might be “Jose is a Palace fan” bringing applause from Mourinho himself. I did try & talk Big Tone out off putting cold hard cash on Palace to win 2-1 on Friday... better start running now.

To start with the opposition, as Match of the Day surely will, crisis-club Chelsea lined up in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, although whether two holding midfielders would be required against Palace strokes me as excessively cautious. And while the formation mirrored Palace, it lacked two crucial components in a pair of proper wingers. Chelsea were often denied width, or required the likes of Costa to run wide, and rarely made the crosses that defences hate; only once did they fire in a good early cross and that saw Falcao score. Palace, of course, have wingers aplenty, the latest a free transfer from Wolverhampton. I can just imagine Roman wondering where this Black Country is & why he spent so much on Pedro, who never approached any of our trio’s impact on the game.

We are also witnessing that extreme oddity: a Jose Mourinho team with an Arsene Wenger midfield, all trippy-tappy, edge of the box stuff. There is a Frank Lampard shaped hole in the middle of that team. And Costa may be an aggressive sod but he lacks that efficient brutality that Drogba brought. Could be worse though – you could be standing in the rain stuck in a queue outside a tube station and you’ve just lost at home... oh, you are...

Pardew made one change from the Villa match with fit again Wickham replacing Murray, who didn’t even make the bench (any offers?). Originally the midfield three lined up with Zaha on the left, Puncheon on the right and Sako in the middle. What this did give us plenty of attacking prowess down the left with Souaré & Sako joining Wilf, put often left us lacking an out ball on the right. As against Villa this was changed at half time with Wilf switching to the right, Sako the left and Puncheon down the middle, which looked more natural. Later, when Zaha was taken off, Sako switched to the right with Bolasie down the left. You really had to feel for poor Ivanovic who had to face all three of our flying wingers! The holding midfield of Cabaye & McArthur worked like Trojans in closing down, hassling, tackling & throwing in the odd foul, while the wingers were extremely diligent in their defensive duties. Dann & Delaney continue to show all the flimsiness of a granite boulder, while McCarthy turned in a performance that showed perhaps why he got the nod ahead of Hennessey, and why Julian may not walk straight back into the team.

Palace played with a high line, meeting Chelsea on the halfway line and gradually dropping back if the Blues made any serious progress. There won’t be many highlights of the first 30 minutes but that doesn’t mean it was boring – if anything it was engrossing watching the work put in to deny Chelsea space while looking to hit on the break. Wilf started brightly and soon worked a cross in that ended on the roof of the net, while Chelsea’s only realistic chance saw the underwhelming Pedro shoot just wide. Palace played some good passing football at times and had a good spell around the half-hour, Sako cutting in from the left and seeing his shot saved, then Zaha set up a chance that was spurned by Cabaye – from 15 yards out he had all the goal to aim at but put his shot too close to Courtois. Sako had another half chance before Chelsea had their first real spell of pressure, a fine double save from McCarthy aided by Dann and some interference from Delaney, before Matic waltzed through a defence that seemed frozen in place only to offer an even weaker effort than Yohan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jujSPPWtor4

The second half was just as balanced at the start before again Palace had a good spell, some good work by Zaha & Wickham prompting some panic in the Chelsea box, Wickham just failing to reach a cross from Sako, who then forced another save from Courtois with an accurate low shot. Again the momentum swung, Delaney blocking three crosses / shots with the family jewels inside a few seconds, then Puncheon lost the ball in midfield which allowed Pedro to get a shot in that was blocked, before Souaré headed off the line from the following corner. Palace’s response was swift & deadly: Bolasie, on for Zaha, linked well with Souaré down the left and the cross was finished off at the second attempt by Sako. A state of mild delirium ensued in our end. It nearly got far better, as Puncheon mis-hit a volley from a promising position, then Bolasie missed a great chance on the end of a cross from Sako, before nearly making amends with a curling shot that just missed.

We did fear that we would regret these chances, Yannick’s first miss in particular, and as Mourinho threw on attackers (including that rare sighting of a rare young Englishman) for defensive veterans the game again began to tilt back towards the Blue corner. For the first time Pedro got into position to deliver a great cross and Falcao beat Delaney with a diving header that zipped in at McCarthy’s near post. Palace veterans now began counting down to Chelsea’s certain late winner (Hazard penalty, perchance?) but instead the team showed an application and attitude that bodes well for this season. They didn’t bemoan their fate but got straight  back onto the front foot, Bolasie again dismantling Chelsea’s right-side defence; his fine right-footed cross was met at the far post by Sako who disdained a shot for a dinked ball back that was finished off by, of all people, our right back on the six-yard line.

This change in circumstances was met with a distinct lack of decorum in the upper tier; hats were removed in the presence of ladies and I suspect strong liquor may have been imbibed. Chelsea strove to hit back, with winger Kenedy playing at right back suddenly asking all sorts of awkward questions, and McCarthy amid some goalmouth scrambles had to make a fine save from Fabregas, while Dann blocked another late effort. Yet Palace still finished on the front foot, breaking away and running the clock down. At the end they deserved the three points for skill, attitude and sheer cussedness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPnxzdvN8mE

Ratings:

McCarthy – 8 – The double save: last season Julian was blamed for pushing shots back towards the attackers; sometimes just making the save itself is all the keeper can do, and Alex’s priority with the first shot was to stop the ball going in. To get back up and block the second effort (admittedly with a little help from Dann) was brilliant. He made some other good saves too, especially a late one from Fabregas, and also commanded his box most of the time (he did get lost under one far post corner). Would be harsh to blame him for the header that beat him on the near post – so don’t!

Ward – 7 – We are holding on for a point and what the heck was our right back doing in their box – hell, in their half! Seriously, Joel now has as many goals this season as all our strikers put together (two penalties) but few will be as sweet. It summed up the approach of the team. Fairly quiet otherwise as Chelsea didn’t show much on the left until Kenedy’s arrival but there was a good block when Costa set Pedro free.

Souaré – 7 – Another fine display including involvement in the first goal and clearing off the line. Defensively did well until Pedro got in the cross for their goal. Increasingly looks a good purchase.

Dann – 8 – Made a couple of mistakes in possession that weren’t expensive, but pretty faultless otherwise, putting in late blocks in both halves, and made plenty of clearing headers.

Delaney – 9 – Will not be swapping Christmas cards with Costa this year. Played one poor ball out and was just beaten by Falcao for their goal, but I lost count of the number of times Damien just simply got in the way of the Chelsea machine. Forget £50m for Stones, Mourinho may be spotted skulking around Beckenham way next week with Mr. Abramovich’s cheque book prominent.

Cabaye – 7 – Much of his work is missed as it is positional defensive work, but Yohan does it so often & so well that we can say Jedinak wasn’t as missed as we had feared. His passing is better, although his set piece delivery was mostly disappointing, and he really shouldn’t have made our best chance of the first half so easy for the keeper.

McArthur – 7 – Same role and performance from Jimmy, kept running right to the end.

Puncheon – 7 – Flitted in & out of the game, not seen much down the right in the first half as often slid infield, where he made some good touches. More prominent in the second half when he could have scored one & created one, but also lost possession cheaply in the middle to set Costa away. Ran out of steam towards the end but did provide an overhead flick & back heel in one glorious scene.

Zaha – 7 – Tormented Ivanovic in the first half but with little return except for creating a great chance for Cabaye. Worked terribly hard defensively, even if I wish he wouldn’t follow that up by trying to slip between two opponents 15 yards inside our half (works in the Championship, Wilf, but perhaps not here). I was surprised he was taken off as he was looking dangerous down the right.

Sako – 9 – Did we really pick this beast of a player up on a free from Molyneaux? Has someone swapped Pedro & Sako over? Scored one, helped make another, and nearly grabbed another tow as well as setting up a good chance for Yannick. Did look more effective out wide than through the middle, but he tended to drift left anyways.

Wickham – 7 – A future quiz question as the only player to feature in the two teams that Beat Jose in the League at the Bridge. Hard day as was mostly controlled by Cahill, but especially in the second half held the ball up well.

Subs:

Bolasie – 8 – Poor Ivanovic: Sees off Zaha; gets run over by Sako; then looks up & sees Yannick bearing down on him. Provided the crosses for both goal and could have scored two himself. What an impact player!

Ledley – 6 – Late sub for Cabaye who had run into the ground, and provided solidity as well as two good clearing headers.

Lee – 6 – Even later sub for Sako who helped run the clock down.