Wearing the captain’s armband, the 19-year-old produced a number of important saves throughout – including a late pair of fine one-handed saves to keep out efforts from Paris Elmensdorp and Amadou-David Sanyang.
The first, in particular, showed the sharpest of Whitworth’s reflexes and athleticism, and meant that Luke Plange’s first-half equaliser was enough to secure Palace the point they needed to guarantee their progression from Group C – unbeaten to boot.
“The game was tough,” Whitworth told cpfc.co.uk afterwards. “Both teams were physically strong and aggressive. Both pressed high and tried to win the ball back as quickly as possible – it was a really good game to play in.
“I felt like we did well throughout the game, showed a lot of fight and character throughout, and played well, creating a lot of chances in possession, but we couldn’t find the final touch at times that we needed to kill the game.
“We’ve replied quickly in the last two games now after going 1-0 down, which shows our determination and drive to put it right after conceding. Obviously we would much rather not concede at all, but we’ve shown good character when we have in the last two games.”
As for his crucial saves – the first of which are at 5:15 in the video below, and followed his penalty save in Sunday’s 3-3 draw with Blackburn at the weekend – Whitworth recalled: “I’m happy that I could make those two saves and make sure we stayed in the game.