International Break

With the International Break upon us, I've taken it upon myself to provide my fellow Eagles with a small fix of some CPFC news, facts etc.
But before I get in to all of that, I suppose I better give you all a match report of our away trip to Wales, to face Cardiff City in the Championship.

Saturday's Action


Crystal Palace traveled up to Wales on Saturday 5th November for a clash with fellow play-off hopefuls Cardiff City. Both sides had excellent records going into this fixture so it was a close call to say who would come out on top.

The Eagles were first to have an effort worth recording as Wilfried Zaha worked for the ball in midfield before handing it to KG who laid off Scannell to fire a long range effort which was turned over by Cardiff 'keeper Tom Heaton.
Cardiff came back at Palace with their own long ranged effort, Peter Whittingham rattling the crossbar with a well struck, left-footed shot.

The second half saw Cardiff come out with a great chance early on, McNaughton feeding a well aimed pass into Kenny Miller, the Scottish international flicking the ball around Paddy McCarthy, only to have his shot well saved by Julian Speroni.

Miller did eventually get the breakthrough for Cardiff, an excellent team move, consisting of almost ten consecutive passes before the initial cross was headed on to a Cardiff man who found Miller in the box, his first time effort beating Julian Speroni, 1-0 Cardiff! This was Miller's fourth goal in six games.

Cardiff were fortunate to get a free kick in a good position after Cardiff man McNaughton walked into Jermaine Easter as he attempted to shut down a pass elsewhere. Referee, Rushton, saw it as a deliberate attempt to prevent Cowie giving a return pass and awarded Cardiff a free kick. Long range specialist Peter Whittingham stood over the ball for the free kick and his left footed curler was sent right up into Speroni's top right hand corner and gave Cardiff a 2-0 lead.

The full time whistle blows, meaning Cardiff win 2-0, giving them back-to-back victories and leapfrogging Palace in the table. The Eagles drop from fourth to sixth with Blackpool filling the fifth spot.
Palace lose for the first time in eight games and have conceded for the first time in over ten hours!
The international break a welcome rest for The Eagles.

In other news...


As I'm sure many of you were aware, Nathaniel Clyne was awarded the Player of the month for October, whilst manager Dougie Freedman was a nominee in the race for manager of the month, beaten to the punch by Birmingham boss Chris Hughton.
Clyne's award is a reward for his determination to return from his pre-season injury of a broken foot. Since his return against Watford, Nathaniel has helped The Eagles to a consecutive clean sheets over Watford, Bristol City, Ipswich, Southampton (which saw Palace through to the Quarter Finals of the Carling Cup), Reading & Portsmouth. Four of these six games were victories for The Eagles, the latter two were 0-0 draws. This record was put to an end by Cardiff (see above). Congratulations to Nathaniel on his well deserved award!

Nathaniel Clyne was brought through the academy for Crystal Palace and from one defensive achievement to an attacking one, academy ace Kyle De Silva's goal against Ipswich Town is in the running for October's academy Goal of the Month! Kyle's goal was an excellent team move, if you wish to watch Kyle's goal and the other contenders alongside him please click the link below. You can also vote for Kyle's goal too by selecting Goal A and clicking "Vote". Congratulations to Kyle for his goal on 1st October which helped the young Eagles to a 5-2 victory!

To view & vote for Kyle's goal, click here:
http://www.lfe.org.uk/news/goal-of-the-month-october-2011

Nathaniel Clyne gets two mentions this week, one of course for his player of the month award, the other for his participation in yesterday's England Under 21's UEFA European Championship qualifier against Iceland. Clyne was selected by boss Stuart Pearce to make his U21's debut. Clyne was part of the starting XI and although he was positioned at left back, not his preferred right back role, he still put in a good display and helped to keep a fine clean sheet, whilst goals from Marvin Sordell, Martin Kelly, Craig Dawson and a Gary Gardner double secured a convincing 5-0 victory for the young Englishmen. Congratulations to Nathaniel and the whole squad on their victory, this victory keeps their 100% record in tact as they attempt to qualify for the  2013 competition.

Fringe player Andrew Dorman has gone out on loan to League Two side Bristol Rovers this week, the Welsh midfield man has admitted in an interview that he still thought they were in League One when he signed, he told BBC Radio Bristol.

"If I'm being honest, I thought they were still in League One! But I've got the chance to move them up the table and I'm just looking forward to playing and doing well!"


Dorman, 29, joined The Eagles last year from Scottish club St Mirren but hasn't made much of an impact at Selhurst Park, despite his continuous excellent appearances in Reserves matches. He has been given the all-clear to play in Rovers' FA Cup tie with Corby this weekend and will remain at the Memorial Stadium until 2nd January. Best of luck to Andy and hopefully this loan spell will give him a boost when he returns to Selhurst!

That's it for now! I will hopefully get another post out during next week and of course there will be the preview of our next game, which comes against Leicester on the nineteenth, before the match day!

Until then Eagles, be safe, be well and keep supporting our wonderful club! EEEEEEAGLES!!