Town bow out at Palace
TOWN ARE BEATEN AGAIN IN THE CAPITAL THIS TIME IN THE CUP AT PALACE
HUDDERSFIELD Town made their Carabao Cup exit in the third round with a 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Palace earned their first victory of Roy Hodgson’s reign as manager and their first over Premier League opposition since May with a defeat of Town head coach David Wagner’s side.
Bakary Sako’s headed the Eagles in front after 13 minutes and that proved enough to beat a Town side who had notched a 3-0 win at Selhurst Park in their first game in the Premier League.
TOWN ended one cup journey as Crystal Palace gained the win they wanted under new boss Roy Hodgson.
As expected Town’s head coach David Wagner made nine changes to the side which performed so admirably against Leicester City on Saturday as they gained another point in the Premier League.
The most noticeable changes were the return of Martin Cranie and Jonathan Hogg for their first starts of the season, as well as a debut for right-back Florent Hadergjonaj after joining from FC Ingolstadt 04 last month.
The only two players who kept their place from the weekend draw was Tom Ince and Elias Kachunga – the latter starting up front as Laurent Depoitre was rested after his exploits against the Foxes.
Notable absentees were Collin Quaner (calf), Steve Mounié (heel), Jon Gorenc Stankovic (knee) and Kasey Palmer (hamstring) – while Robert Green was cup tied.
Buoyed by the opening day 3-0 on the same ground last month, Town started with an air of authority and confidence, stroking the ball and dictating play.
However, their approach was perhaps a bit too nonchalant and the third minute chance for Andros Townsend after poor play from Philip Billing, Town should have heeded the warning.
Yet they didn’t and when Joe Lolley was guilty of a similar cavalier charge, he had Martin Cranie to thank for clearing the ball out for a corner.
Unfortunately Townsend’s delivery from the set piece into the box was headed into the net by Bakary Sako for the Eagles to take the lead.
The goal appeared to deflate Town and for the 20 minutes they appeared static and lacking the usual intensity so synonymous with a David Wagner side.
Other than a Kachunga effort which was flicked over the bar and the incessant positivity of Rajiv van La Parra, the visitors offered very little as the first-half drew to a close while Palace looked more than capable of adding to their advantage.
The second-half opened with Abdelhamid Sabiri replacing Lolley ,but the biggest cheer of the night was for the introduction of Pape Souare, returning to action for the first time since a serious car crash over a year ago.
And substitute Sabiri was soon in the thick of the action, wriggling into the box before drawing a great save out of keeper Julian Speroni in the Palace goal.
With the game continuing to get away from them, head coach Wagner rolled the dice for the final time and introduced Aaron Mooy and Dean Whitehead for the final 20 minutes of the game.
The Australian replaced Ince and immediately moved into the No10 role, with Kachunga going out wide and Sabiri up front.
The sheer presence of Mooy was enough to see the visitors push forward looking for an illusive equaliser with Michael Hefele and even keeper Joel Coleman piling forward in the final stages.
But it was too little to late and as the final whistle blew it was a disappointingly lacklustre display from David Wagner’s men.
Yet bigger and more important encounters await – starting with Burnley at Turf Moor at the weekend.