Crystal Palace U18s fell to a narrow defeat against Cray Wanderers in their opening match of pre-season on Tuesday evening, with a Pat O'Connor goal separating the two sides; but there were plenty of positives to take from the 1-0 defeat. 

In a game of men against boys, with Eagles' boss Ken Gillard naming a very young side made up largely of first year scholars, Palace performed well throughout but lacked a cutting edge. 

The home side began well with two decent efforts which were dealt with well, before Palace came into the game through wingers Andre Coker and Aaron Bissaka, as well as midfielder Kiye Martin.

Martin tried to dance his way into the box early on after working himself some space, but was denied by some good defending, before Coker began a good break down the left wing but his poor touch ended the attack prematurely. Nonetheless, it was an encouraging spell for the youngsters as they showed some good touches and their communication saw some promising opportunities arise. 

Both teams tried their luck from range but neither side had their finishing boots on as the efforts either sailed wide or failed to test the goalkeepers, but after 25 minutes the game burst into life as some poor defending from Palace allowed Pat O'Connor to steal into the box and lob Brad Comins from close range to put Cray 1-0 ahead. A header from a free-kick ensued soon after, but it looped harmlessly over the bar. 

A surreal moment followed as Palace winger Coker was once again involved in a promising attack. Having made the step up from the U16s, Coker was looking to impress his boss and certainly did that, but most in attendance were bemused as he somehow contrived to miss from close range from his own header but offside was given anyway. The youngster tricked his way into the box and after a deflection headed the ball over the defender and looped the goalkeeper only to see his effort loop onto the crossbar, before the assistant referee flagged for offside.

Cray brought themselves back into the game again with two excellent efforts and began to dominate, but Palace goalkeeper Brad Comins was in superb form to keep the deficit to a single goal as he tipped the shots past the post and over the bar.

The game started to become stretched and the end to end nature of the first half was summed up as Andre Coker beat the offside trap down the right to find himself clean through but could not find the finish as Palace's best chance went begging. 

The Eagles were looking extremely dangerous on the break with the pace of Kiye Martin, Coker, Andrews and Bissaka causing Cray real problems, but Martin failed to spot Coker in a superb position down the left and instead fed Bissaka who was dispossesed. Then, on the stroke of half time, the youngsters broke once again but Corie Andrews' effort went narrowly over the bar. 

Palace made nine changes at half time, with only Comins and Coker remaining on the pitch, and it showed as an even younger side struggled to find any cutting edge, although performed admirably to keep the home side at bay despite their physical presence. The endurance from Palace was sufficient to create a few attempts on goal in the second half but Ollie Bennett's effort was well saved, before Elliot List's excellent run and shot was frustratingly held by the 'keeper. 

List, who lost his place in the side to Aaron Bissaka following an injury, looked threatening down the right wing but earned a number of kicks for his effort as the Cray players struggled to deal with his pace and skill. Indeed, it almost turned nasty when a very poor challenge from the Cray midfielder resulted in a melee which saw List sent off late on. 

Both sets of players reacted and a punch appeared to be thrown by the Cray player, before List's reaction saw the referee send him off; although Palace may choose to appeal. The youngsters perhaps a little too enthusiastically raced to defend their team-mate but both sets of players continued the unecessary handbags. 

It somewhat marred what was a thoroughly impressive performance from Palace's forwards, despite their failure to trouble the scorers. 

There were impressive performances from centre-back Ollie O'Dwyer, last season's U16 skipper Michael Phillips as well as Coker and Martin, with boss Ken Gillard pleased with what he saw. 

Palace first half line up: Comins, King-Elliot, Akiotu, Wynter, O'Dwyer, Hoare, Coker, Bissaka, Gaggin, Martin, Andrews.

Palace second half line up: Pain, Hogan, Day, Howlett-Mundle, Phillips, Akanbi, Clement, Peter List, Bennett, Coker, Jeremiah.