CRYSTAL PALACE 1 NORWICH 0

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT SELHURST PARK

Crystal Palace beat Norwich City 1-0 thanks to a moment of magic by Jason Puncheon, to take a massive step towards preserving their stay in the Premier League for a fourth successive season.  This was the Eagles’ first league win since December 19, last year. 

With a quarter of an hour of the game gone, Jonny Howson nicked the ball in midfield and had a crack but his shot was just over the bar.  Moments later Pape Souare crossed from the right but Jason Puncheon’s shot was blocked for a corner.  From a second successive corner Cabaye saw his shot deflected for yet another corner.  Palace looked sharp and were definitely up for the game.

Although Palace had more of the possession they did not really create any clear-cut chances.  The game remained scoreless at the break.

In the second half Palace had a chance form a corner but Damien Delaney could not control his shot, which flew over John Ruddy’s goal from close range. At the midway point of the second half, Puncheon played a reverse pass to Yanick Bolasie who only managed to sky his shot over the bar from close range.  

Both sides did not really create any decent chances. However that was soon to change.  Just after the midway point of the game Joel Ward joined the attack and passed to Puncheon, who opened his body before curling a left foot shot into the bottom right hand corner of Ruddy’s goal to give Palace the lead.  The ground shook and a weight of expectation and anxiety was lifted off the Palace players’ shoulders.

Palace’s tails were up. Second half substitute Wilfred Zaha ran at the Norwich defence before unleashing a shot, which was saved by Ruddy.  Zaha then found himself one on one with Ruddy, hit a low drive but Ruddy saved to keep Norwich in the game.

A minute later from a corner, Bolasie stabbed the ball goal wards but Miles Jedinak was thwarted on line by the Norwich defence. Palace was throwing the kitchen sink and more at the Canaries.

In stoppage time Palace should have doubled their lead. John Ruddy went up for a corner and the ball broke for Zaha down the right.  He raced down the wing. He could have rolled the ball into the empty net or played Bolasie in. Sadly he did neither but Palace did not rue this miss. On another day it could have been a different story.

Norwich’s two game winning streak came to an abrupt end and they were nowhere near the quality they showed in the successive victories.  They have another six-pointer next week against Sunderland, which could go a long way to determine who has the best chance of staying in the Premier League.