C Palace 1 - 2 SwanseaSwansea’s Àngel Rangel sinks Crystal Palace to give Paul Clement hope
Home team scorersWilfried Zaha 83
Away team scorersAlfie Mawson 42
Angel Rangel 88
Paul Clement was confirmed as the Swansea City manager in the afternoon and claimed his first win by the evening as his team deservedly beat Crystal Palace.
An assured first-half showing in this relegation crunch match finished with Swansea taking a first-half lead through the defender Alfie Mawson. Belatedly rousing themselves, Palace equalised with a Wilfried Zaha volley only for the old Swans stalwart Àngel Rangel to seal the match with minutes remaining.
Clement had initially opted to take a watching brief (and extensive notation) from the stands. The plight of the team propping up the Premier League table has been well documented with the Welshmen having lost seven of their previous 10 matches. But so had the team from south London. And Palace had only claimed one win in that time, an arduous triumph over Southampton. Two games under the instruction of Sam Allardyce had garnered only one point and the crowd at Selhurst Park were distinctly restless, even more so than a month ago, at the end of Alan Pardew’s tenure.
Whether that atmosphere fed into Palace’s play or the nerves were already built in, the home side started terribly. Swansea were immediately into their passing rhythm and had a chance as soon as the fifth minute. Wayne Routledge, restored to the right wing after illness, exchanged passes with Kyle Naughton and found himself in acres of room by the byline. He looked up, picked his spot and lofted a ball right onto Fernando Llorente’s head. The striker did not even have to jump to connect with the ball, but headed it wide of the far post all the same.
The tension heightened for Palace, while Swansea visibly relaxed. In the 17th minute Routledge put in great work again, this time from the left-back position. He wriggled out of a gaggle of players to release Llorente down the middle. The Spaniard advanced on goal with options either side of him. Ki Sung-yeung was the better option to his left, but instead Llorente opted to go right to Jack Cork. The captain took a heavy touch and his shot was closed down by Wayne Hennessey. In the 27th minute, Swansea came close again as Federico Fernández rose to meet a Gylfi Sigurdsson free‑kick, but his header again failed to trouble the keeper.
Swansea had a focus about their play, and confidence on the ball. Palace were either overplaying or dozy and their best moment was a naughty one. A Hennessey goal-kick in the 32nd minute somehow managed to clear the entire Swansea defence. Christian Benteke read the ball, however, and got a touch beyond the advancing Lukasz Fabianski. The Belgian then went straight to ground but the referee Paul Tierney rightly called no foul as the Pole had managed to brake just in time to avoid contact.
With half-time approaching the visitors finally made good on their dominance. Another free-kick was conceded in Sigurdsson territory, which is never a good idea even at the best of times. His cross was typically expert, but so was the run from the 22-year-old centre-half Mawson. He went from back post to the penalty spot, across the Palace line and flicked the ball back to where he had come from. It was a smart effort from the summer signing from Barnsley and his first goal for the club.
The crowd booed Palace off vociferously at half-time and then cheered them vigorously back on. Allardyce withdrew Benteke, who had hurt his shoulder falling over, and replaced him with Fraizer Campbell. In his first minute he showed more alacrity than any Palace player in the opening 45 as he dispossessed Neil Taylor. His enthusiasm soon became infectious.
Zaha, who had had his departure for the African Cup of Nations specially delayed for what had appeared no good reason in the first half, was suddenly pulling the tricks out and running full tilt at Taylor time and again. Despite their endeavour, however, Palace were not creating chances. Their first shot in anger arrived on the 63rd minute, but Joe Ledley’s low drive was blocked manfully by Mawson. Clement decided it was time to get closer to the action and headed for the technical area alongside the caretaker manager Alan Curtis. In the 70th minute he opted to replace the struggling Taylor with Rangel, putting Kyle Naughton up against Zaha, now Palace’s greatest threat.
On Palace’s other wing meanwhile, Allardyce had replaced the ineffective Andros Townsend with Bakary Sako. In the 78th minute he bustled his way into the penalty box and flicked the ball past Rangel. The Spaniard put his hand out to stop it, a definite penalty, but referee Tierney could not have seen it as his whistle stayed silent.
For a moment it looked like Palace had burned themselves out. Swansea were recovering their composure. But then in the 84th minute a moment of pure quality from Zaha changed the game. Campbell chased down a long ball and played it wide to Kelly. His first-time cross span across the edge of the box, where Zaha met it with a flying scissor kick. Fabianski could do nothing as it flew past him into the net.
It was bedlam in Selhurst Park, but still there was time for another twist. Clement’s defensive substitution may not have worked out but Rangel chose the 88th minute of the match to turn auxiliary striker. Running on to a long pass from Leroy Fer, another second-half sub, he took one touch to run past the retreating Palace defence and another to coolly slot under Hennessey. Suddenly it was a six-pointer after all.
Guardian
