Preston take down Palace

By Les Roopanarine. Saturday, 27 January 2007.

Crystal Palace

0-2

Preston North End

Nugent 46, Wilson 83

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Preston eased into the Fifth Round of The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON courtesy of second-half strikes from David Nugent and Kelvin Wilson.

Preston’s goals came after Palace had dominated the first period without finding a cutting edge to go with their superior possession.

But Preston, who also dumped the Eagles out of the competition at Selhurst Park at the same stage last year, were good value for the win, with David Nugent’s opener, his eleventh goal of the season, a real gem.

Nugent apart, it was all change up front for both sides. Preston manager Paul Simpson handed new signing Michael Ricketts his first start for the club, while for Palace James Scowcroft and Clinton Morrison were given the nod for the first time this year.

But in a first half of few chances, the trio struggled to impress. Although Palace began well, with Morrison and Darren Ward threatening early on, Peter Taylor’s men struggled to break down Preston’s well-organised back line.

The highlight of an otherwise uneventful first half did not come until the stroke of half-time, when a deflected shot from Scowcroft briefly had Preston goalkeeper Andy Lonergan scrambling to collect.

But better was to follow. Nugent had been largely anonymous in the first period but, seconds after the restart, he burst into the box, shook off the attentions of the pursuing Palace defence, and curled a beautifully-taken right-foot shot past goalkeeper Scott Flinders. It was the Liverpudlian’s sixth goal in eight games and his first in The FA Cup for Preston.

In the 83rd minute, Kelvin Wilson sealed the win with a scrappy second as Palace struggled to clear Paul McKenna’s corner.

"The first half probably did nothing to inspire people to come out and watch FA Cup games," reflected Preston manager Paul Simpson afterwards, "but it’s about just grinding out a result. We defended well and it was an absolute wonder goal in the first minute of the second half to give everybody a lift, and gave us a really strong base to push on from."

"I thought that we started really well, and nearly scored early on , and I thought we passed the ball around exceptionally well in the first half," said Palace manager Peter Taylor.

"Second half I thought that we started a little bit too easy to play against, I thought that we were a little bit sloppy."

"Maybe I said ‘well done’ too many times at half-time," added Taylor ruefully.

Crystal Palace: Flinders, Lawrence, Ward, Hudson, Butterfield (Freedman 68), McAnuff, Fletcher, Green (Ifill 56), Kennedy, Scowcroft (Kuqi 67), Morrison.
Subs Not Used: Speroni, Cort.

Preston North End: Lonergan, Alexander, Wilson, Chilvers, Hill, Sedgwick (Whaley 71), Pugh, McKenna, Lewis Neal, Ricketts (Ormerod 79), Nugent (Mellor 87).
Subs Not Used: Nash, St. Ledger.

Attendance: 8,422

Referee: L Probert (Gloucestershire).

PRESTON TAKE DOWN PALACE

27 January 2007