Four goals was enough to put Crystal Palace into the fourth round in Alan Pardew’s first game as Crystal Palace manager.
It was a bitter afternoon on the south coast as the Eagles travelled to Dover for the hosts’ biggest game in their history as it was the first time that they had hosted a Premier League side in a major competition, sadly for them the result that they had all dreamt about the night before was to remain as a dream as Pardew’s side dominated proceedings throughout the game with three players bagging the share of the goals.
53-year-old Pardew selected his first Palace team and it was a very capable side of beating Dover as he included a number of first teamers alongside players that had either been out on loan at lower league clubs or had just simply been overlooked by Neil Warnock in his four months in-charge of the club. Glenn Murray was the most exciting prospect within the side with the player just returning from his loan spell at Reading at the turn of the year, where on his loan he managed to bag up eight goals in 18 games.
Possession and pressure all went to Palace in the first 15 minutes with Murray taking the majority of the chances, the player who had scored 30 goals in the Eagles’ Championship promotion season, had his first shot on goal in the 40th second when a ball from Wilfried Zaha on the left-hand side found the striker on his head who then put it towards goal where Dover goalkeeper Andrew Rafferty made a stunning save.
The striker continued to cause problems for the Dover defence as he was denied twice in quick succession, first seeing a shot heading towards the bottom corner before then seconds later forcing the keeper to action again with a close range header that was tip the ball round the post.
On ten minutes, Palace managed to grab the opener with the unlikeliest of scorers Scott Dann volleying the ball into the bottom right hand corner after Tom Bonner helped it onto the defenders’ foot from Wiflried Zaha’s cross from the left wing.
Penalties were claimed for by both sides throughout the middle part of the first half with the referee turning down all three, with Dover appealing for a penalty on two occasions with one of them being when they claimed that Adrian Mariappa handled the ball in the area, but referee gave a corner instead.
Scott Dann’s name popped back onto the score-sheet 20 minutes later as he headed the ball into the back of net from a surprising corner which was directed to the back post where the defender was waiting.
Another defender also tried to get onto the scoring act shortly after Dann’s goal as Joel Ward forced the Dover goalkeeper to a save to his near post, preventing it from creeping into the bottom corner of his net.
Scoring two goals in the first half, defender Dann was looking for his third straight after the half-time break as a corner from Barry Bannan, who had been out of favour by former manager Neil Warnock, found the awaiting goal scoring defender but it was straight at Rafferty.
Later on in the second half, the tie was very much put to bed as Dwight Gayle scored a goal of his own just before he was substituted by Pardew; the forward out classed the defenders as he turned one of them as he got into the box before hammering the ball into the bottom hand corner.
Three minutes later, the final goal of the game was scored as Kevin Doyle who had come on at half-time for Glenn Murray finished a pass from Jerome Thomas into the net from a couple of yards out to score his first goal for the club.
It’s the fourth round for Crystal Palace and Alan Pardew who would have been pleased with the performance his side managed today against the non-league opposition.
