PUBLISHED
20:57 3rd February 2014
by James Hilsum
ALBION 3
Dickenson 43, Rea 45+1, Maguire-Drew 70
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CRYSTAL PALACE 2
Allassani 7, Taylor 86Albion’s under-21s recovered from a goal down to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 thanks to goals from Brennan Dickenson, Glen Rea and Jordan Maguire-Drew.
Live coverage of Albion v Crystal Palace
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Palace started the brighter of the two sides and took the lead in the seventh minute thanks to Reise Allassani. The forward latched onto a through ball and slid the ball under Christian Walton to break the deadlock.
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The Eagles continued to look threatening in the opening stages and were awarded a penalty after Tom Dallison was penalised for a challenge on Sulaiman Kaikai.
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The south Londoners then spurned the opportunity to double their advantage, as Walton saved Allassani’s spot-kick.
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Simon Ireland’s side had to be alert against a dangerous Palace front line, as Michael Chambers headed wide after latching onto Kaikai’s free-kick.Connor Dymond then spotted Walton off his line with a speculative effort from distance, but the Albion keeper retreated back in time to collect the ball.
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The Seagulls then began to look more dangerous going forward, as Jesse Starkey’s free-kick went just wide of the far post before Dickenson’s whipped ball in failed to find an Albion player.
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But Ireland’s team were level in emphatic fashion thanks to Dickenson’s superb strike. Craig Mackail-Smith, making his second appearance on his return from an Achilles injury, nodded the ball into the path of the forward, who unleashed a superb strike past Gregory.
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The game was then completely turned on its head right on half-time when Rea’s bullet header gave Albion the lead after Charlie Harris’s superb cross into the area.
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The Seagulls continued to press Palace after the break when Rob Hunt found Rea inside the box, but Gregory pushed away the centre-back’s effort before he had another close-range shot blocked.
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The away side still looked threatening going forward though and Walton was called into action once again, producing a superb reaction save to deny Connor Dymond from distance.
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Albion then scored a decisive third goal thanks to substitute Maguire-Drew. Starkey made a great run to the byline and put in a dangerous ball across the box, leaving Maguire-Drew to fire home.
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Palace made it a nervous last few moments for Albion as Quade Taylor’s audacious effort beat Walton from just outside the box, but Ireland’s side held on for a hard-fought victory.
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Albion: Walton (GK); Deen, Rea, Dallison, Hunt; Monakana (Davis 68), Harris, Asmundsson; Starkey, Mackail-Smith (Maguire-Drew 50), Dickenson. Subs not used: Smith (GK), Wiltshire, Muitt.
Original article