Source: Telegraph
Newcastle United 2 Crystal Palace 0: match report
Crystal Palace are the last team that should be charitable but no one of a Newcastle United persuasion would have been complaining about their misguided generosity last night because the Championship leaders desperately needed Lady Luck to be on their side.[LNB]Palace, now in administration, put their off-field financial problems to one side to outplay Newcastle at St James' Park and only an own-goal from Shaun Derry and Nile Ranger's late strike allowed the Tyneside club to restore their three-point advantage over second-placed Nottingham Forest in the race for the Premier League. [LNB] Related ArticlesChampionship tableChampions League fixturesTelegraph player raterSport on televisionLeeds rejected £1.8m bid for BeckfordNewcastle snap up Manchester United's Danny SimpsonPalace's resources are so stretched manager Neil Warnock named just three substitutes and left Victor Moses, out of his team on the orders of the administrators with a view to selling their most valuable asset to Nottingham Forest. [LNB]It went from bad to worse three minutes for Palace after kick-off as Johannes Ertl limped off. Despite the mounting problems, Warnock's team should have taken an early lead but excellent chances came and went for Calvin Andrew, who was denied by Steve Harper, and Danny Butterfield, who nodded Nick Carle's cross wide from inside the six-yard box. [LNB]A Newcastle defence featuring debutant Mike Williamson following his move from Portsmouth looked shaky as did the Palace back-four and Peter Lovenkrands should have put his team ahead but sliced Jose Enrique's cross box wide with just Julian Speroni to beat. [LNB]Palace were giving Newcastle a run for their money but they gave their hosts a helping hand in the 20th minute. Derry should have cleared his lines when Andy Carroll nodded down Danny Guthrie's corner. [LNB]Instead, the Palace skipper sliced the ball past Speroni and Newcastle were on the way to their first league win this year before they suffered a set-back when Enrique limped off with a hamstring injury. [LNB]Chris Hughton had to re-organise his defence, with Tamas Kadar switching to left-back and Fabrice Pancrate slotting in at right-back, and Palace continued to hold the upper hand with Harper having to keep out former team-mate Ambrose's free-kick and Andrew's deflected shot. [LNB]Newcastle possess an embarrassment of riches compared with Palace and the emergence of a second home debutant, Palace old boy Wayne Routledge, illustrated the gulf between the haves and have-nots but the visitors continued to make light of the circumstances thanks to Newcastle's poverty of ideas and creativity.[LNB]Indeed, thanks to Derry's tenacity and Neil Danns' dexterity, Palace dominated midfield as Alan Smith and Kevin Nolan toiled and almost equalised midway through the second half. Ambrose beat the offside trap but could only direct Carle's cross onto the post before Tamas Kadar blocked Danns' follow-up.[LNB]Ranger should have settled local nerves in the 82nd minute when Pancrate curled in an inviting cross but the former Southampton forward headed over on a rare foray into opposition territory.[LNB]Butterfield tried his luck from distance as Palace continued to press Newcastle back and the growing sense of anxiety was illustrated when Nolan verbally abused Warnock on the touchline as his side took a much-needed breather.[LNB]Unfortunately for Warnock no one on his team had the last word as Newcastle and as his team pushed forward Ranger broke clear and slotted the ball confidently past Speroni in stoppage time for his first goal on Tyneside. [LNB]
