Report & Highlights: Three quickfire Liverpool strikes end Palace’s PL2 campaign

Summary

• Three loanees return to the squad amidst four changes to side that beat Spurs

• Mathurin sees penalty saved in the second minute

• Neither side muster a chance in the opening half an hour

• Watson and Gordon see efforts go wide of the mark

• Devenny and Reid slide in well to deny Liverpool 33 minutes in

• Mathurin converts from the spot with 10 minutes to go

• Whitworth charges out to deny Kaide Gordon in the 43rd minute

• Watson doubles the lead just before the break

• HT: Liverpool 0-2 Palace

• Imray nearly adds a third immediately after the restart

• Kaide Gordon pulls one back in the 57th minute

• Two minutes later he equalises with a curling effort

• Nyoni completes the five-minute comeback with a stunning effort from 20-yards out

• Chances come and go as Palace try to draw level

• Williams and Mathurin have efforts late on, but can't level things up

• FT: Liverpool 3-2 Palace

• Palace’s Premier League 2 campaign comes to an end in the play-off stage

Almost a week on from finishing the regular-season in ninth place with a resounding 5-0 win over table-topping Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace Under-21s travelled to Merseyside to take on Liverpool as the play-off stage commenced.

The new structure of the Premier League 2 in 20232/24 meant that the top 16 sides qualified for the play-off stage in order to determine the winner of the tournament. By virtue of their ninth place finish, Palace were drawn to face eighth place Liverpool.

Darren Powell made three changes to the side which trumped Spurs, with loanees Kofi Balmer, John-Kymani Gordon and Ademola Ola-Adebomi returning to the side in place of Vonnte Williams, David Ozoh and Jes Rak-Sakyi. Mofe Jemide also came in for Craig Farquhar at the back.

The Eagles nearly got off to the best possible start as they were awarded a penalty in the opening minute. Roshaun Mathurin stepped up from 12-yards, but Fabian Mrozek in the Liverpool goal guessed correctly and saved his effort.

That proved to be the one key chance in the opening half an hour as both sides struggled to get into a rhythm and find a foothold in the game. Noah Watson and John-Kymani Gordon saw their attempts go wide of the mark, while at the other end Justin Devenny and Dylan Reid both slid in well to deny a dangerous Liverpool move in the box.

With just over 10 minutes remaining in the half, Palace took the lead. Pressing from the front saw Mathurin capitalise on a misplaced pass from Amara Nallo and drew a foul from the defender as he tried to recover in the box.

The Palace No. 10 stepped up from 12-yards out once again, after missing earlier on, and made no mistake as he fired it into the bottom left corner.

Liverpool nearly found an equaliser before half-time as Kaide Gordon’s mazy run through the middle saw him one on one with Joe Whitworth. It was captain versus captain and Whitworth came out on top as he rushed out of his goal to smother the attempt from the Liverpool skipper.

Shortly after this, a long ball out from Whitworth picked out Mathurin in space in the Liverpool final third. He took three touches in his stride to play it into Watson, who managed to skip past the ‘keeper and slot in his first goal of the season on the stroke of half-time.

Watson’s goal sent Palace into the break two-goals to the good and after the restart they were in search of more. A long diagonal from Balmer picked out Watson on the left hand side, he cut it back across and it fell perfectly to Imray who unfortunately fired narrowly wide of the woodwork.

As the game approached the hour-mark, Liverpool sparked a remarkable comeback. A scrappy goal from Kaide Gordon saw them halve the deficit, before their skipper then curled in a stunning effort just two minutes later to equalise.

Momentum was undeniably in Liverpool’s favour and they made it count with their next attack, as Trey Nyoni found the top corner from 20-yards out to give the hosts the lead.

Three goals in the space of five minutes fundamentally flipped the game on its head and the Eagles were now chasing an equaliser. Chances came and went, though none were really threatening Mrozek in the Liverpool goal.

Second-half substitute Vonnte Williams and Mathurin had the best attempts late on, however that were narrowly wide of the post and parried away respectively. It wasn’t to be for Palace in the end as they couldn’t find a route back into the game.

The result sees their Premier League 2 campaign come to an end in the round of 16, with a ninth place finish in the regular-season. Attention now turns to the Premier League International Cup final against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday, 15th May.

Liverpool: Mrozek (GK), Frauendorf (Spearing, 79), Davidson, Nallo, Pinnington, McConnell (Blair, 85), K. Gordon, Pilling, Koumas, Nyoni, Morrison.

Subs not used: O. Kelly (GK), K. Kelly, Laffey.

Palace: Whitworth (GK), Imray, Jemide, Balmer, Watson, Devenny, Reid (Akinwale, 73), Rodney, Mathurin, Ola-Adebomi (Gibbard, 45), J-K. Gordon (V. Williams, 73).

Subs not used: Izquierdo (GK), Agbinone.