Report & Highlights: Palace slip to extra-time defeat in final v PSV

SUMMARY:

• Five changes for Palace Under-21s as returning loanees start the Final
• Killian Phillips, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Rob Street and Scott Banks make returns
• Phillips has the first opportunity, rocketing into the side-netting
• Banks whips a free-kick narrowly wide as Palace enjoy better of cagey opening stages
• PSV score first through low Sealy finish
• Banks responds for Palace with unstoppable effort
• HT: Palace 1-1 Jong PSV
• Low Banks pull-back narrowly misses Rak-Sakyi at far post
• Winger's close-range effort blocked soon after
• Rak-Sakyi then denied again by close-range block.
• Banks comes close with another free-kick
• FT: Palace 1-1 Jong PSV
• Tielemans hits the bar for PSV with looping volley
• Double deflection forces Goodman into outstanding save
• Van Duiven restores visitors' lead from close range
• Banks bends narrowly wide with last kick of the half
• HT in ET: Palace 1-2 Jong PSV
• Phillips almost restores parity with looping effort, saved by Schiks
• Resurgent Palace dominate second period
• Colyn seals it for PSV with late free-kick
• FT in ET: Palace 1-3 Jong PSV

Up against a Jong PSV side who play in the Netherlands' second-tier, and whose players had recorded resounding victories over Manchester United (2-0), West Ham United (5-0) and Arsenal (7-2) on their way to the Final, Palace boss Darren Powell named a strong starting XI to match.

Fresh from impressive inaugural campaigns in senior football, a number of returning loanees began the game, including front-three Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Rob Street and Scott Banks, and Killian Phillips in midfield.

As the two teams emerged from the tunnel to a booming rendition of “Glad All Over” from the 5,941 supporters in attendance – many players starting in front of the largest crowd of their careers – it became clear that a special evening, whatever the result, lay in store: a European final at Selhurst.

It was Phillips – fresh from being named Shrewsbury Town’s Young Player of the Season – who had the first shooting opportunity of the game as Palace, buoyed on by that backing, made a bright start.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international made a drifting run in behind the PSV backline but, with the angle against him, could only crash a rising finish into the side-netting after being found by Kaden Rodney.

In a typically cagey final, a congested midfield left little room for either sides’ creative talents to shine, with set-pieces providing the majority of the opportunities for both teams.

It was Palace who came closest with a free-kick in the first-half, Banks’ clever strike from 25-yards initially deceiving all who expected him to aim for the opposite side – PSV goalkeeper Nick Schiks included. Sadly, however, it too found the side-netting.

Both teams seemed content for large periods to sit off and allow their opponents possession in the defensive third – so when the visitors took the lead after 34 minutes, it was a shock to the Palace collective system.

Strong defensive work had restricted PSV’s chances up to that point, but a momentary lapse in concentration left Dante Sealy in too much space at the far post. Palace did not clear an initial delivery, it reached the young winger, and he shot first-time with an effort which squirmed – agonisingly – beyond Owen Goodman.

Temporarily stunned, Palace afforded further shooting opportunities to PSV in the moments that immediately followed, Simon Colyn firing an effort from range into Goodman’s mid-riff before the ever-dangerous Isaac Babadi hammered narrowly wide from a similar distance.

But Palace’s moment of magic was still to come: fittingly, a goal which was a real work of art from Banksy.

When his initial corner-kick delivery reached Rak-Sakyi at the back post, a goalmouth scramble ensued. PSV will have thought the danger passed when hurrying the ball away towards the edge of the box… but had not reckoned for a spectacular curling finish from Banks, arcing high into the far corner – a goal fit for a Final at any level.

It was the least Palace deserved for their first-half efforts, and gifted them momentum which they carried into the second period.

With a solid defensive platform behind them, it was the Eagles’ wide men who began to churn out chances, Banks and Rak-Sakyi combining regularly to force PSV into a succession of last-ditch blocks.

Moments after the latter almost found the former sliding at the far post, Street did manage to pick out Rak-Sakyi, only for a brave defensive block to deny the 20-year-old.

Palace had all the attacking momentum and hit the bar through a deflected effort from Street midway through the period – the striker later ruled offside – whilst full-backs Rodney and Tayo Adaramola shackled their opposing wingers for large stretches.

As the clock ticked towards extra-time, however, the chances began to dry up for both teams, the closest either team coming being from Banks’ fiercely-struck free-kick – the Scot also having a good shout for a penalty turned down in the closing stages.

Even in the final stages, those set-pieces were producing chances for Palace, a corner kick in the dying embers flicked on by Phillips towards defender Kofi Balmer, whose stabbed finish was blocked amidst a goalmouth scramble.

Full-time, 1-1 – and, sadly, it was the point at which the Final’s tide began to turn.

Whereas Palace appeared to tire in the early stages of extra-time, PSV seemed rejuvenated, more dominant in the immediacy of the restart than at any other point in the game.

Their goalscoring opportunities came thick and fast.

Captain Mathijs Tielemans hit the bar with a looping volley from a half-cleared corner; a double deflection forced Owen Goodman into an athletic save; and numerous pull-backs kept Palace centre-backs Balmer and Sean Grehan on their toes.

When the goal almost inevitably arrived, it was desperately unlucky from a Palace perspective, another low ball towards the penalty spot met by Jason Van Duiven, whose resulting strike deflected up and over Goodman’s reach.

The Eagles were struggling to build attacks as PSV kept the ball for long stretches, but they did come close to finding an equaliser with the last kick of the half: Banks, from almost an identical position, this time bending narrowly wide.

Into the second-half of extra-time and, while Palace – re-energised with the introduction of a number of substitutes – did begin to threaten once more, the visitors’ greater experience of senior football started to tell.

The closest Palace came was with a looping effort from Phillips shortly after the restart but Schiks, to his credit, produced a save at full-stretch to deny the midfielder.

Long throws, free-kicks, balls forward – Palace threw everything at it, but on this occasion, the Dutch side stood firm.

With both sets of players tiring, the match became scrappy in its closing minutes – but there was still time, with virtually the last action of the match, for Colyn to bend a free-kick over the wall and into the top corner to seal PSV’s victory.

A disappointing end for Palace to a remarkable journey in their first-ever season in the Premier League International Cup.

Yet you sensed, as Palace’s stars of the future stood in front of a still-packed Holmesdale Road end, serenading and applauding them well beyond the full-time whistle, the memories – these experiences – will abide.

Crystal Palace U21s: Goodman (GK), Rodney, Grehan, Balmer, Adaramola (Watson, 105), Ozoh (Omilabu, 105), Wells-Morrison, Phillips, Rak-Sakyi (Mooney, 78), Street (Raymond, 117), Banks (Umeh, 105).

Subs not used: Izquierdo (GK), Imray.

Jong PSV: Schiks (GK), Comenencia, Seelt (Tytens, 45), van de Blaak, Leysen, Tielemans, Sealy (Priske, 65), Colyn, van Duiven (Arts, 115), Nassoh, Babadi (Jiminez, 117).

Subs not used: Peersman (GK), Dams, van den Heuvel.