Crystal Palace suffer late defeat against Ipswich (thanks to a former Millwall boy)

Premier League

Crystal Palace (1) 2 Khalali 14, Strand Larsen 75

Ipswich Town (2) 3 Emersonn 23, David 45, Fleming 90

Crystal Palace suffered its third defeat in four games when Ipswich Town grabbed a late winner at Selhurst Park. Former Millwall-forward Zian Flemming scored the winning goal on his debut for The Tractor Boys.

Playing with ten men most of the game, courtesy to a silly red card for Alex Disasi, Crystal Palace looked like salvaging a draw against an excellent Ipswich Town-side. But the vocal relief after Jorgen Strand Larsen’s equalizer, fifteen minutes before the end, was premature. A panicky piece of defending in front of Palace-goalie Walter Benitez allowed the blond Dutchman Flemming to poke home after a Leif Davis header was blocked. 

This 2-3 defeat meant the second home defeat for Palace, after the 1-4 drubbing against Manchester City on the opening day of the season. It’s a very difficult start in the relentless Premier League for the new French manager Pierre Sage, It was never going to be easy to succeed Oliver Glasner, but the lack of confidence and coherence is worrying, symbolised by an overhit free-kick of Adam Wharton and a corner of Daichi Kamada that totally went wrong.

The Palace started not too bad, and the first chance came in the tenth minute after a dreadful pass by Dutch Ipswich goalie Kjel Scherpen. Wharton picked up the ball halfway the opponents half but failed to punish this mistake. It turned out to be a bad omen for the visitors. Minutes later the Israeli international Anan Khalali was given too much space and his low diagonal shot disappeared in the bottom corner, out of reach for the tall Dutch goalkeeper.

Did this give Palace wings? Not really. New boys Ipswich Town, looking for points after defeats against Liverpool and Manchester United, levelled ten minutes later. Leftback Davis provided a lovely delivery for the Brazilian striker Emersonn who had escaped from the attention of the center-backs and beat Benitez an unstoppable header into the roof of the net The VAR checked for off-side but allowed the goal to stand.

It went from bad to worse for the Palace, playing in white, when defender Axel Disasi was sent to the dressing-room after a wild and dangerous challenge that could have injured. Jack Clarke. The VAR looked at the red card and didn’t didn’t disagree with Chris Kavanagh. Just before the half-time whistle the visitors from Suffolk took the lead. A cross from the right was headed, or rather shouldered, towards Davis who sent the away fans wild.

After the break Ipswich had a couple of chances to extend the lead, but failing that, they kept the hosts in the game. Dutch signing Quinten Timber, the brother of Arsenal’s Jurrien, missed a couple of opportunities before the hard-working striker Strand Larsen put The Eagles level, causing a disquiet Selhurst Park to erupt with sounds of relief. Shortly after the 2-2 Khalali wasted a great shooting chance. It turned out to be a very, very expensive miss.

Palace (5-4-1): Benitez; Richards, Disasi, Ahanor, Khalaili; Mitchell (Chillwell 76); Timber, Wharton (Hughe 76), Kamada (Lerma 84), Pino; Strand Larsen (Gozo 84)

Ipswich (4-2-3-1): Scherpen; O’Shea, Diop, Greaves (Ouattara 89), Davis; Lukic, Palacios; Fatawu (Philogene 62); Enciso, Clarke (Maeda 62); Emersonn (Flemming 62)

Attendance: 25.122