Glas half full for new boss Oliver

AS FIRST impressions go, Oliver Glasner could not have hoped to make a better one than this.

Crystal Palace produced a dominant display to beat Burnley and kick-start the Austrian’s regime in style.

When asked this week how he would turn the Eagles’ fortunes around following a run of two wins in 16 games, Glasner promised he would get the goals flowing again, but joked that he was ‘no David Copperfield’.

For just over an hour, you wondered whether the chronic lack of threat from the team who started the day as the division’s second-lowest scorers would be demonstrated again here.

But on an afternoon where it felt as though the thick fog of gloom that has engulfed Selhurst Park in recent months finally lifted, it turned out Palace did have a few bits of magic up their sleeve.

Defender Chris Richards came up with the opening goal 22 minutes from time, before Jordan Ayew and Jean-Philippe Mateta rounded off the scoring.

‘My feeling was that the fans were happy that they could see the players attacking, fighting, playing forward, creating opportunities,’ Glasner said. ‘The fans were very loud and happy and this is what we want.

‘They have had a great Saturday afternoon and now they can celebrate in the pub and have one or two beers.’ Burnley’s Josh Brownhill was sent off in the 35th minute for a cynical foul on Jefferson Lerma.

And although they fought valiantly, eventually their resistance was broken by Richards’ first goal for the club, a diving header from Ayew’s cross.

The tireless Ayew was rewarded for his impressive display by applying the finishing touch to Matheus Franca’s cross before Mateta rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot after Vitinho hauled down Franca.

David Datro Fofana saw a late consolation goal for Burnley chalked off following a VAR check. But this was an afternoon when nothing could spoil the Glasner feel-good factor.