I do not know if Jason Puncheon is a religious man.
Even if he is not, he would have been looking at some kind or redemption since his penalty miss against Spurs last weekend. A whole week contemplating ‘that’ miss and a few comments on Twitter in response to former Palace manager Neil Warnock on TalkSport perhaps did not help focus the mind.
The next game could not have come soon enough.
It was to be an emotional one for manager Tony Pulis. The Stoke fans arrived with banners and wearing baseball caps in homage to him. But he could not let emotion get in the way. This is football after all. He may have even treated the game as a scouting mission, considering the media continuing to link Palace to any Stoke player.
There was only one change to the starting line up, enforced as Jerome could not face his parent club. Rumours of Aaron Wilbraham starting for Palace were unfounded but he did make a welcome return to the bench. It was Pep that came in to support Chamakh.
Speroni, Mariappa, Delaney, Gabbidon, Parr, Bolasie (Moxey), Puncheon, Ward, Jedinak, Guedioura (O’Keefe), Chamakh (Wilbraham)
The first half was not much to write home about. A game that was never going to be one for the purists and fully expected to be an after thought in any evening highlights package.
The best chance of the half arguably fell to the visitors, a header was tipped away by keeper Julian Speroni who continued his recent great form. In truth, he rarely had an much to do throughout the game and that save is the one I can remember from the whole ninety minutes.
The possession game was once again never the aim for this Palace side. The away side appeared happy to allow the clock tick away with slow build up play from the back throughout. The Palace side looked nervous, clearly needing the win more than Stoke did.
It didn’t help the tempo of the game with both sides giving up possession easily and also stuggling to find that final pass to open up either defence.
The second half began with most suggesting that one goal would take all three points in what was turning out to be a very tight game. Palace took the game to the visitors from the beginning of the half and got their reward. Good work out wide between Ward and Mariappa combined with some poor defending, the ball finally falling to Puncheon who dribbled around the edge of the six yard box and fired the ball into the bottom corner past an unsighted keeper. The fantastic twelfth man that is the Selhurst crowd erupted. The much maligned Puncheon had exorcised his demons and the relief was evident.
Taking the lead only fired up the home crowd more that it already was. The visitors tried to get back into the game but they found it difficult to find that final ball. Both Gabbidon and Delaney dealt with the large threat of Peter Crouch exceptionally well, only allowing him a couple of efforts on goal.
Palace had their chances to kill the game off through Puncheon, Wilbraham and O’Keefe but neither could convert leaving a very nervous finish for the home fans. The final whitsle was a very welcome sound after the four minutes of injury time.
It was a massive win for Palace as several other fixtures were kind allowing a move from bottom to sixteenth in the Premier League table. All to play for in the coming games.
STATISTICS – Palace once again gave up possession as Stoke took 57%. The visitors also led with shots on goal (17) but only 2 were on target. Palace had 12 efforts on goal with 6 on target. Palace had 4 corners to Stoke’s 3. Man of the match was Puncheon (8.2) closely followed by Mariappa (7.8) and Damien Delaney (7.6). Highest rated Stoke player was Butland (7.5). Palace (7.08) had a better team rating than Stoke (6.76). Most individual shots on goal was Adam (5), Cameron had the most tackles (5) and Bolasie the most dribbles (6).
Article written by Jay Crame. Statistics from Who Scored.
