Crystal Palace player-manager Attilio Lombardo proved he wanted the points
more than Derby County at Selhurst Park today by turning in a stunning
performance as substitute to inspire his team to their first home Premiership
win of the season.
Palace looked from the outset to take the game to the visitors in the opening
minutes, but their front three were as so often this season appearing to be on
three different frequencies.
The first half was littered with errors as both sides felt the pressure of
what a win would bring them.
Derby's chance to leapfrog over Blackburn and into a European place saw them
force the home side on to the back foot for much of the half - but Thomas Brolin
had other ideas.
The Swedish international showed glimpses of the form that inspired his
country to European Championship and World Cup semi-finals.
On 17 minutes he found himself in space on the edge of the area, but with Matt
Jansen unmarked and screaming for the ball he blasted it high and wide.
Brolin then fed the ball through the Derby defence, but Neil Shipperley's poor
first touch saw the opportunity squandered.
Derby's efforts relied much on the brilliance of Paulo Wanchope, and with
better support elsewhere the Rams would almost certainly have been ahead at the
break.
However, Palace too had their share of chances, and had Mart Poom not been so
alert to the danger he would have pushed Jansen's fiercely struck shot into the
path of the Shipperley.
Lombardo's half-time chat certainly did the trick for Palace.
Shipperley and Jansen both went close, and Michele Padovano was only denied by
the faintest of deflections from Chris Powell.
Lombardo introduced himself to the fray on 72 minutes and immediately took
over in a performance of supreme skill and guile.
Within a minute, the goal had come.
Lombardo found Sasa Curcic out wide, and the former Aston Villa midfielder
created a gaping hole in the Rams' defence.
His pass to Jansen was inch perfect, and the striker calmly tucked the ball
past the helpless Poom.
Seven minutes later, Palace got their second goal courtesy of another piece of
brilliance from Lombardo.
He dispossessed Deon Burton in midfield and surged forward, where he had
Curcic to his left and Shipperley to his right, as the Palace attackers swarmed
into the area.
The manager chose left, and Curcic did not let him down as he slotted the ball
under Poom.
But Derby were not finished, and with five minutes left Lars Bohinen let fly
with a stunning volley from 20 yards to bring one back for the visitors.
Lombardo was not ready for the final whistle either, though, and in the dying
seconds of injury-time the Italian made mincemeat of the Derby defence.
He slipped the ball to substitute Marcus Bent, who duly made it three, to
leave Palace with a glimmer of hope of surviving the Premiership drop and Europe
a long way from Derby's grip.
Teams:
Crystal Palace: Miller, Edworthy, Gordon, Curcic, Shipperley,
Padovano (Lombardo 71), Brolin, Rodger, Smith, Ismael,
Jansen (Bent 83).
Subs Not Used: Dyer, Nash, Hreidarsson.
Goals: Jansen 73, Curcic 80, Bent 90.
Derby: Poom, Rowett, Powell, Stimac, Van Der Laan (Baiano 58),
Wanchope, Delap (Hunt 77), Bohinen, Carsley, Dailly,
Burton (Sturridge 79).
Subs Not Used: Kozluk, Knight.
Booked: Van Der Laan.
Goals: Bohinen 85.
Att: 18,101
Ref: P E Alcock (Redhill).
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