LEE ‘SO GRATEFUL’ FOR PALACE HELP
HARTLEPOOL manager Graeme Lee insisted he will be forever grateful to Crystal Palace after the Premier League club donated towards his wife’s cancer treatment on the eve of the tie.
First-half goals by Marc Guehi and Michael Olise helped the Eagles to a comfortable win, but the result played second fiddle to the positive relations built between the two teams since the draw.
Lee expressed his gratitude to the south London outfit, who subsidised the travel of the 4,700 Hartlepool fans in attendance before they made a donation to the JustGiving page of Gemma Lee.
The initial target for the JustGiving page of £60,000 – to fund a year’s supply of medicine – was hit yesterday morning after a tweet by the official Twitter account of the Premier League club on Friday.
Lee said: “What Crystal Palace have done, not only for putting the buses on for the fans to come down, but for what they have done for me and my wife is absolutely immense.
“I am forever grateful and not just to the club, but for the fans’ support. Last time I looked before the game it was over a year’s supply of medication for my wife, and for us to know that is absolutely unbelievable.”
Only four minutes were on the clock when Guehi tapped home for his third goal since a summer move from Chelsea.
Olise was the creator with a wonderful free-kick from the right and England U21 centre-back Guehi timed his run to perfection before producing an equally impressive finish.
The fourth tier side responded well and tested Jack Butland almost immediately from kickoff but David Ferguson saw his header at the back post scrambled behind for a corner.
More minutes were handed to Ebere Eze, who superbly worked a yard of space before seeing a shot deflect wide off Gary Liddle after 16 minutes.
Eze looked in the mood and dribbled past two opponents shortly afterwards before he was upended, but the resulting free-kick was curled over by the playmaker.
Hartlepool’s fans were enjoying their day out in the capital and a sustained period of possession saw the visiting support break out into a chorus of oles.
Palace – and in particular Olise – brought them back down to earth in the 22nd minute, though, when the hosts went 2-0 up.
A short goal-kick was won back by Joel Ward and Conor Gallagher found Olise, who flicked the ball past Croydon-born Timi Odusina before he checked back inside and curled the ball into the bottom corner.
Eagles boss Patrick Vieira was delighted with the intensity of his players from the first whistle at Selhurst Park.
Vieira said: “I was really pleased with the team performance. What we wanted was to start the game well and we did. We managed to score the early goals that allowed us to control the game a little bit more.
“We knew it could be a tricky game, but from the first minute we went on the field with a lot of respect for the opposition.”