Magpies steal all three points from the Eagles with two late, late goals at chilly Selhurst Park

By Paul Lagan at Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace 0 v Newcastle United 2

Crystal Palace suffered last-gasp heartache as the Magpies stole all three points with two late, late goals at a chilly Selhurst Park tonight to win 2-0.

It looked for all the world the game would drift into a 0-0 stalemate as neither side did enough in front of goal to warrant a victory.

Yet Callum Wilson’s cool finish after being set up by Joelinton gave the Toon the lead on the 88th minute.

Joelinton will be claiming the second when his shot was deflected off Gary Cahill to confirm the points were heading up to the North -East.

It was an undeserved victory, and the Eagles will be kicking themselves that they succumbed to the sucker punch.

Boss Roy Hodgson’s went all out for the win.

He brought off from the bench Belgium strikers Christian Benteke and Michy Batshuayi, but it all went pear-shaped for the South Londoners.

Palace have 13 points from 10 games and are 13th in the Premier League - unlucky numbers indeed.

The Eagles were without their talisman Wilfried Zaha, who, having recovered from Covid-19, was absent as his partner give birth earlier in the day.

The away side started off the brighter with the home side, content to hold back and break in the counter-attack.

Joelinton, striped his luck from 25 yards when passing to fellow striker Callum Wilson could Chevy been more profitable - the Brazilian flashed the effort high and wide of Vincent’s Guaita’s goal on nine minutes.

A clumsy challenge by Federico Fernandez on Jeffery Schlupp saw the defender into referee Graham Scott’s little yellow book on 17 minutes.

Joelinton has the first shot on target on the game on 21 minutes, but his edge of the box effort was weak and failed to trouble Guaita.

Three minutes later and the toon’s Karl Darlow produced a wonderful save, diving high to his left, he managed to parry a stinger of an long range effort by Eberechi Eze way to safety.

Jordan Ayew took advantage of a blocked shot that fell invitingly to him. He raced into the Newcastle penalty era and unleashed a fine, angled left-footer, but Darlow, again, was at the right position at the foot of his right post to deflect the ball away for a corner.

As the half came to an end, Palace asserted their dominance and while they got to the edge of the Toon area, they could not break through.

Schlupp had a header inch wide of goal after racing onto a long ball by Patrick Van Aanholt.

There were no changes by either side at half-time.

Ex-Chelsea centre back Gary Cahill saw a powerful header zip over the crossbar from a Townsend corner as Palace started the second half with a higher tempo than their opponents, pushing them further back to defending on the edge of their area.

Palace boss Roy Hodgson decided he needed sharper finishing up front and opted to bring on Christian Benteke for Ayew on 66 minutes.

Jairo Riedewald entered the fray a minute later - Townsend trundled off.

Then it was the turn of the toon with Matt Richie replacing ineffectual Miguel Almiron.

Benteke was soon in the thick of the action and was unlucky to see a snatch header from a an Aanholt cross ping over Darlow’s crossbar with 20 minutes left on the clock.

A mazy 40 yard run by Sean Longstaff almost reaped dividends on 78 minutes but he was clipped just before he entered the place penalty area. Scott Dann was yellow carded as a result.

From the resultant free-kick , which was thumped by Richie, Guaita was positioned perfectly to snaffle the zinger.

Darlow was again in action a minute later when Benteke, was once more thwarted by the goalkeeper.

Van Aanholt’s left wing cross was met full on the forehead of the Belgium hot-,am. The ball zipped towards the base of Darlow’s right post, but the stopper dived spectacularly to tip the goal-bound effort away.

Going for the winner, Hodgson replaced midfielder James McArthur for another Belgium striker, ex-Chelsea man Michy Batshuayi on 82 minutes.

Batshuayi was inches away from tapping in a Eze byline cross a the Eagles pulverised the Magpies defence.

Then as the clock ticked over to the 88th minute, up popped Wilson and Joelinton to kick the Eagles where it hurt most.

Teams: Palace, Guaita, Van Aanholt, Dann, Ayew, Townsend, Schlupp, Clyne, McArthur, Cahill, Eze

Subs: Butland, Ward, TomkIns, Sakho, Benteke, Batshuayi, Riedewald

Newcastle: Darlow, Clark, Shelvey, Joelinton, Wilson, Lewis, Hendrick, Fernandez, Manquillo, Almiron, Sean Longstaff

Subs: Gillespie, Matthew Longstaff, Schwartz, Ritchie, Yedlin, Murphy, Anderson

Referee: Graham Scott