Crystal Palace Under-21s put in a resilient performance to see off Leicester City to progress into the quarter-finals of the Premier League Cup. Craig Farquhar’s first goal in red and blue, along with another for Danny Imray and an own goal saw the side through.
Following quickly on from their 3-0 triumph over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League International Cup four days ago, Crystal Palace Under-21s welcomed Leicester City to Copers Cope for more cup action.
Head coach Darren Powell made a single change to the side ahead of this Premier League Cup round of 16 clash, with Chris Francis coming in for Jake Grante in defence.
Leicester started the first-half brightly, enjoying more of the ball and attacking right from the off. They earned a succession of corners and set pieces, though they were no trouble for Joe Whitworth in the Palace goal.
A quarter of an hour in, against the run of play, the Eagles managed to take the lead. In the second phase of a corner, Justin Devenny floated the ball back into the box.
It was flicked on by Noah Watson into Victor Akinwale, who put it back across from the byline for January signing Craig Farquhar to head home his first ever goal for Palace from close range.
The Eagles were quickly two goals to the good at the half-hour mark. A well-worked move in transition between Roshaun Mathurin and Jadan Raymond saw the latter force Ben Grist to head into his own net fom inside the six-yard box,.
Both goals for Palace came from what were effectively their only two chances of the half. Leicester were trying to halve the deficit in the time that remained, though Whitworth and his defence stood firm to go into the break with a two-goal cushion.
After the interval, the visitors made a change and immediately reaped the benefits. Substitute Amani Richards, who had come on at the break, capitalised on a Farquhar mistake to slot in just two minutes into the second-half.
Halving the deficit gave Leicester a spring in their step, as Richards fired wide of the mark just moments after netting his goal. The Foxes failed to build on this momentum though as the Eagles restored their two-goal cushion.
Captain Whitworth made a strong stop to deny Oliver Ewing just past the hour-mark, before leading a breakaway by feeding it to Dylan Reid. The Scotland Under-19 international carried it over half the length of the pitch before feeding Danny Imray who just skewed it wide.
The in-form Imray was not disheartened by the missed chance, as he popped up a minute later to head in Palace’s third from close range. Mathurin whipped in a dangerous ball towards the far post, and Imray found himself in the right place at the right time to head in with little to aim for.
With the two-goal cushion restored, the Eagles were hoping to see out the game in a comfortable manner, however Leicester’s Chris Popov reduced the deficit to just one with 10 minutes of normal time remaining.
A grandstand finish ensued, with Leicester piling on the pressure and Palace attempting to hit them on the break. Mathurn came agonisingly close to picking out the top corner, in the 90th minute, on Palace’s best breakaway.
The visitors’ best chance of drawing level and forcing extra-time came in the third minute of stoppage time. A corner was hooked goalwards by Harvey Godsmark-Ford, however Whitworth once again came up trumps as he made a vital save to push it onto the crossbar and out.
That crucial save proved to be enough as the referee brought an end to proceedings shortly afterwards. Powell’s side will now advance to the quarter-finals of the Premier League Cup for the first time, where they could potentially face the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Fulham amongst others.
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