Josh Morton on Crystal Palace vs Ipswich Town

Pre-match thoughts

The journey to Croydon was a much easier journey for me than most I’ve been on this season, following Ipswich away in the Premier League, and Crystal Palace has been an away game I’ve been looking forward to since promotion.

Travelling through London would be more difficult due to the match clashing with several different events in the capital. A charity match at Wembley meant it was busy at seemingly every train station I stopped at.

I got chatting with a Town fan as I stopped for a pre-match pint in a pub near Selhurst Park, and he had some interesting news about the lineup.

“My mate reckons he knows the kitman and Enciso’s back for the game,” he speculated. I’ll admit that this got me looking forward to the game even more than I already was.

Crystal Palace have stabilised in the Premier League since promotion in 2013. Eagles manager Oliver Glasner has put together a strong side, with real threats going forward and a particularly stubborn backline.

After his head injury in Palace’s FA Cup victory against Millwall last weekend, Jean-Philippe Mateta would have to miss this match against the Blues. I hope he can return to action soon but, honestly, I was glad he would not play against Ipswich, the on-fire Frenchman having already netted 12 league goals this season.

As I left Norwood Junction station and walked towards the ground amongst a crowd of football fans, I appreciated being back at a ‘proper’ ground. Selhurst Park isn’t the biggest, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in character. It is an old ground that is rather rough around the edges, with away fans situated on the left side of the Arthur Wait stand and I was advised by my friend to choose a seat closer to the front of the stand as he the low ceiling renders the views from the back of the stand rather poor.

Keiran McKenna named a team with three changes to the side humbled in the 3-2 loss at Man United. As had been rumoured, lively playmaker Julio Enciso was back from and the team ahead of Omari Hutchinson who dropped to the bench. Dara O’Shea would move across to the right in place of the injured Axel Tuanzebe. At centre half, Luke Woolfenden would step in to face the very same opposition he made his debut against in the League Cup nearly eight years ago.

As expected, Eddie Nketiah replaced Mateta to lead the line for the Eagles against Ipswich, with Jefferson Lerma in for the suspended Will Hughes in midfield.

Early chances

Soon after kick-off, the hosts had an excellent chance to take the lead. In the second minute, midfielder Adam Wharton played a superb through pass to put Edward Nketiah one-on-one with Alex Palmer, but the Blues‘ keeper made an excellent save to deny him.

Following that chance, Town broke down the left, with Leif Davis finding space and cutting the ball into the box where a number of blue shirts were arriving. Jaden Philogene ran onto the ball and fired towards goal, but his low effort was well saved by Dean Henderson to his left.

Around a quarter of an hour into the game, the home side looked to be in on goal again as Ismaila Sarr looked to latch on to a ball over the top, but for Jacob Greaves to intervene, fouling the winger on the edge of the box and receiving a yellow card. Eberechi Eze would step up to take the free kick, firing straight into the pink wall.

Greaves would again be called into action as Eze twisted and turned his way into the box before unleashing a shot. The Blues defender produced a superb slide tackle to win the ball and keep it away from danger.

Town replied with an attempt of their own. Julio Enciso found space in the box, turned away from his man, and fired towards goal, but a good save from Henderson kept the score level.

The rest of the second half saw very few chances, but Ipswich had a good spell of possession towards the end without threatening to take the lead. The town fans made plenty of noise in the sunshine throughout, with persistent chanting coming from Palace’s ‘ultras’ section in the middle of the Holmesdale stand. The rest of the stadium was relatively quiet.

Myself and many others around me were concerned as Davis went down for treatment towards the end of the first period, but thankfully the left back was able to continue, the score at half time remaining 0-0.

Famous spectators

Throughout half time, murmurings from those around me suggested that new England boss Thomas Tuchel was in attendance at the match as had been reported on social media. “Surely he’s been impressed with Delap, he’s been everywhere,” a woman behind me said to a friend.

“He’s got to be called up now surely, he’s better than Kane!”

On the pitch, a real icon of the game was in attendance as legendary Match of the Day commentator Barry Davies was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. Davies was interviewed over the PA and it was great to hear his iconic voice again as he spoke about some of his experiences covering football, a career which spanned over 50 years.

The second period started with Palace gaining a foothold in the game, keeping the ball neatly and looking to strike from range. As the hour approached, the match began to get scrappy, with the hosts quickly picking up a few yellow cards.

The Tractor Boys would then have a flurry of good chances, first when a quick counter saw Liam Delap in space down the left, who fired an effort high towards the near post, but Henderson got across to tip the ball out for a corner. Enciso swung in the resulting set piece and found the head of Delap at the back post, the striker forcing another save from the Palace keeper. Despite this superb stop, the rebound fell to Philogene in the six-yard box and the Blues winger prodded towards goal, but his shot was cleared excellently off the line by Sarr with Henderson out of position.

It just wasn’t Ipswich’s day in front of goal.

End to end

Following a counter attack resulting in a booking for Enciso, the hosts were back in the ascendancy, with Eze again looking dangerous. The tricky attacker found himself in space on the edge of the box and attempted to clip a ball in for Nketiah, but Dara O’Shea got in the way to make the block.

However, the ball would loop up off of the defender and over Palmer, but luckily for Town it bounced off the post and out of play. The resulting corner was met by the head of Sarr in the six-yard box, but he nodded just wide of the target.

Some home supporters got up to celebrate as they had thought Sarr had given Palace the breakthrough, but this was not the case, thankfully for those sitting in the away end. In reaction to this spell of pressure from Palace, Blues boss Keiran McKenna made a double change, Omari Hutchinson replacing the quiet Jack Clarke and Ben Johnson on for Jaden Philogene on the right.

Soon after those alterations, Nathan Broadhead would also be brought on in place of Julio Enciso, with Broadhead’s song belted out loudly by the visiting supporters as he ran on to the pitch. In a real horror moment for Ipswich’s left back, Crystal Palace were gifted an excellent chance to break the deadlock. Davis slipped as he attempted a pass back to his keeper and put Daniel Munoz in on goal. The Eagles' right back struck a low effort towards goal, but Palmer saved the shot and his teammates' blushes.

“I can’t believe he’s done that,” my neighbour in the seat to my right cried, holding his hands to his head in shock. Town had survived, but for how long?

In the spirit of the game, which had become very end-to-end, Ipswich had the next real chance, and it was a good one. Substitute Ben Johnson rose high to meet a good ball by Davis but headed just over the bar. That would’ve been Johnson’s first goal for Ipswich, and it was gutting to see it sail off target.

It was even more gutting when just two minutes later, the home side would strike late on in proceedings, a patient Palace move resulting in substitute Daichi Kamada’s loose pass to Wharton ball deflecting off of Phillips and falling straight to the feet of Sarr in the box. The winger stepped up for his team, pulling away from Greaves with his first touch before chipping the ball over the onrushing Palmer to score the opening goal in the 82nd minute. Sarr used his teammate Mateta’s trademark corner flag celebration after dealing a cruel blow to Ipswich in another close game.

Following the goal, Delap made way for George Hirst on 84 as the Tractor Boys went in search of a leveller. Jack Taylor was also thrown on for Jens Cajuste for the remainder of the game. Bright work down the right by Hutchinson in front of the travelling Town faithful saw him beat substitute Ben Chilwell for pace, the left back cynically fouling the lively winger. The referee awarded a free kick for Ipswich in a promising position and booked Chilwell, but the free kick came to nothing.

Supporters around me began to filter out the exits as the game entered injury time. The last action for a Town player was a late foul from Kalvin Phillips, made purely out of frustration. The referee booked the Ipswich midfielder and, a minute later, blew the final whistle, ending the game 1-0.

Post-match reflections

A familiar story at full time, with Town very much in the game and threatening throughout, but McKenna’s men were unable to score and a moment of quality from an opposition player meant that they had come away with nothing in the end.

The late goal was a killer, and I thought neither team deserved to win the game. McKenna’s players looked gutted at the end of the match. They put in a huge amount of effort, but as has been the case in matches for the majority of the season, they came up short.

Player Ratings: Palmer 6, O’Shea 5, Woolfenden 6, Greaves 6, Davis 6, Phillips 7 (MOTM), Cajuste 6, Philogene 6, Enciso 6, Clarke 5, Delap 6.

Subs: Johnson 6, Hutchinson 6, Broadhead 5, Taylor 5, Hirst 5.