Since his arrival, many Crystal Palace fans have been speculating on Antonio Pedroza's ability and when he'll make his first team debut. The Mexican striker appeared in the 'Development Squad' that took on Leyton Orient today so I have put together a match report of the game that took place at CPFC's training ground on Copers Cope Road, Beckenham.
Crystal Palace XI - Foderingham, Caprice, Holland, Holness, Parsons, Cadogan, O'Keefe, Dorman, Pinney, Pedroza, Iversen
Palace's mix of youth and experience combined well to give them the early lead, Antonio Pedroza heading on a corner for Jack Holland to finish off. But, they took a hit when ace right back, Jake Caprice (who has been tipped as a shoe in for Clyne if he ever leaves) hobbled off after just ten minutes, to be replaced by Quade Taylor; Charlie Holness shifting over to right back.
The "Eaglets", as I shall be referring to the development squad, dominated for the first twenty or so minutes and although Orient did well to string together a few passes, there were no attempts on goal from the visitors until a midfielder (name unknown) struck well but narrowly missed on the half hour mark.
Orient went on to create some good chances to put themselves in control, number eleven (name unknown) firing just wide, giving goalkeeper Wes Foderingham a warning.
Approaching half time, the sides looked evenly matched, as once again the youth of Matthew Parsons linked up well with the veteran Iversen to put the Norwegian down the left side, but his cross was well blocked by The O's. Just before half time, Keiron Cadogan (who's celebration when scoring against Coventry for his first team debut, was branded "The Eagle Skank") used his quick feet to put Pedroza in on goal, but the Mexican hit the net on the wrong side of the post. The two teams entered half time, very much equal on performance, with Crystal Palace leading the visitors by one goal to nil.
There were no substitutions during the interval and the teams definitely came out fighting, Orient's number 10 firing at Foderingham who held the shot well. Closely followed by Crystal Palace's corner which was taken by Dorman, met well by Taylor but the keeper gathered it after fumbling the first touch, just as well, because Pedroza was ready to pounce on the rebound.
Ibra Sekajja replaces Nathaniel Pinney after about 15 minutes, two minutes later however, Orient work well to get a good cross into the box, but there is no-one on hand to convert the chance.
Disaster hit The O's as Steffen Iversen and substitute Ibra Sekajja's one-two was intercepted by a defender who ended up side-footing into his own net. 2-0 Palace.
After a quiet ten minutes, Palace look to hold onto their lead by replacing Charlie Holness with England U-16 and U-17 center back (and childhood mate of mine) Ryan Inniss, who scored the crucial goal against Scotland to give England U-16 the Victory Shield as well as captaining them to glory in the Montaigu Tournament in France over the summer. An excellent prospect for the first team, having already signed his professional contract which comes into effect on 5th June 2012 (his seventeenth birthday).
With fifteen minutes left to go, The O's pull a goal back, after a goal mouth scramble; 2-1. The Eaglets are straight on the attack though, Pedroza's scintillating run ends with a shot that is blocked, Dorman's follow-up effort is also seen away by the Leyton Orient defenders. The O's clearly hadn't given up though as third choice keeper Wes Foderingham was sprung into action when The O's number nine found himself in on goal, the young stopper made a good block to deny Orient a late equalizer.
Andrew Dorman, who is yet to make a real impact in the first team, cracked in a lovely 25 yard strike to make it 3-1 with only a few minutes left, but The O's weren't going down without a fight as they hit back almost immediately after a simple bottom corner finish made it 3-2.
Gus Sow and Kadell Daniel also made appearances for The Eaglets.
The match finished 3-2 and it was a fair reflection on the game as it was end to end for the majority of it. Holland's early strike, followed by an own goal put Palace ahead but Orient fought hard and gained a goal back before Dorman made it three in the closing stages. Orient scored again but had no time to complete what would have been a brilliant comeback in a game that could have gone either way.
No comments:
Post a Comment