C Palace 1-0 MiddlesbroughPalace out of drop zone after Patrick van Aanholt goal sinks Boro
Home team scorersPatrick Van Aanholt 34
Crystal Palace disrespected the point in the only way acceptable to Sam Allardyce. Not through style, class or invention, but through togetherness, determination and perspiration. Little annoys Allardyce more than seeing his team lose a game that they could have drawn by throwing needless caution to the wind and this was a contest that could so easily have finished goalless, but one goal from Patrick van Aanholt was enough to earn Palace a precious victory over opponents whose timidness in attack risks bringing about their downfall.
This was only Palace’s second league win under Allardyce and their third at home this season. The prospect of relegation still haunts them, despite moving a point above the bottom three. Not for nothing is Allardyce known as a survival expert, however, and instead it was Middlesbrough, stodgy and limited, who looked the likelier team to be playing in the Championship next year.
Middlesbrough’s allergy to goals continues to undermine their organisation at the back. Level with Palace now, Aitor Karanka’s team have not won in the league since 17 December. Even worse, they have scored only three times since Christmas.
Palace had done nothing but absorb pure, undiluted industrial Allardyce since losing to Stoke City a fortnight ago. They had downed pints of Allardyce and dumped four lumps of the stuff in milky cups of tea. For breakfast, the full Allardyce. For lunch, the Big Sam. For dinner, the jumbo Allardyce.
The man himself captured the mood in his programme notes: “I would hope to see an uplift in our performance to get a result, but not necessarily a win. We need to respect the point – as I keep reiterating to the players.”
Such a pragmatic outlook hardly promised a thrill-a-minute spectacle, especially as Middlesbrough have a well-earned reputation as spoilers. But while the Allardiet might sound unappealing, Palace have to embrace it.
There could be no repeat of their previous home fixture, that shocking 4-0 defeat by Sunderland.
Selhurst Park boiled with rage on that grim afternoon, with one supporter even confronting Damien Delaney, a Palace stalwart. Here, however, the home fans gave their team tremendous backing from the first whistle and Palace fed off that wonderful atmosphere in the first half, dominating possession, showing unity and creating an early chance when Christian Benteke headed straight at Victor Valdés from Van Aanholt’s cross.
They returned to the dressing room with rare applause and cheers ringing in their ears, for they were ahead thanks to a moment of opportunism from Van Aanholt. Palace had lacked conviction in the final third, but the Dutchman’s messy goal, 11 minutes before the break, meant the world to them.
Van Aanholt is a left-back who loves to venture forward and he brought an attack to life by finding Yohan Cabaye, who shot from 18 yards out. Bernardo Espinosa’s block deflected the ball into the air and Dani Ayala’s header fell to Van Aanholt, who controlled before taking a swing with his right foot. Valdés could not react in time as the shot slithered through a mass of bodies and inside his left post, earning Van Aanholt his first Palace goal since his arrival from Sunderland last month.
Something strange and unfamiliar was flowing through Palace: it was confidence. Soon, Jason Puncheon tested Valdés with a fizzing drive and Middlesbrough were being overrun. The visitors are the division’s lowest scorers for a reason. They had offered nothing as an attacking force and Mamadou Sakho was enjoying a comfortable debut for Palace in central defence.
Karanka responded by replacing the ineffective Álvara Negredo with Rudy Gestede up front, but the service from Middlesbrough’s creative players was appalling and Cristhian Stuani spurned their best chance of an equaliser.
Even when Palace grew edgy in the second half, Middlesbrough huffed and puffed and Karanka waited until the 76th minute before bringing on Adama Traoré.
Guardian
