An excellent performance today by a Crystal Palace under 12s side who grew in confidence as the game went on. Although there were some eye-catching individual displays, in particular Oli Bennett in central midfield and Corie Andrews playing wide right, they also looked organised and more solid than in recent weeks and worked extremely hard as a team, which made it tremendously hard for Watford to gain any sort of foothold on the game.
The first period saw Palace start strongly and after Casey-Ray Taylor found himself in space after great movement to receive a pull-back by Lewis Johnson who was causing major problems for the opposition in the central midfield, Taylor stabbed at the ball with his weaker left foot and the ball trickled wide with the keeper rooted to the spot. The chances kept on coming and Corie Andrews was instrumental in much of the build-up play for the home side, on one occasion using his electric pace to run nearly the length of the pitch, crossing the ball across the face of the goal only for Johnson to strike the crossbar. Palace were dominating and were exciting to watch when in possession, they took the lead after great combination play on the edge of the area between Johnson and Taylor led to Aaron Bissaka scoring his 10th goal of the season. However, the lead was not held for long and a rare venture forward by Watford led to a through ball wrong footing Elliot Page only for the Watford forward to finish with great composure.
The second period saw Watford attempting to press the Palace youngsters with more intensity but the Palace boys rose to the challenge. The match did turn quite scrappy during this period but it was Palace that looked the more dangerous on the counter attack. However, Watford took the lead after a rare mistake by captain Michael Phillips saw him go to ground with an attempt of a tackle, leaving the Watford forward to pull back the ball to his teammate who finished with ease from 5 yards. The Palace defence did not react quickly enough and anticipate the danger and it ultimately cost them a goal. Undeterred the Palace team came storming back and it was Corie Andrews who scored a tremendous goal after beating two players down the right flank before burying the ball into the far corner, 2-2.
The third period saw a fairly even contest, and after a few substitutions had been made for Palace it took them 5 minutes to find there rhythm. Oli Bennet was fantastic throughout the period and won possession for the home side countless times. He even struck the cross bar with a ferocious drive from the edge of the area after neat build-up play again on the right involving the lightning quick Andrews and tricky central midfielder Lewis Johnson. Watford had one or two half chances but with Amadeo Sappleton looking confident between the posts for the Eagles it was hard to see another Watford goal occurring. The period ended with Casey-Ray Taylor missing by inches after an audacious effort from 25 yards.
The fouth period saw the Palace boys really turn it on. The movement in central midfield was not only creative but demonstrated a real desire to go and win the game, the junior eagles looked confident and clearly frustrated that they hadn't scored more during the match. However, there patience paid off when Lewis Johnson scored a superb goal with no less than six of the Palace players involved in the build-up to the goal that started with central defender Michael Phillips, and finished with Taylor sliding the ball through to Johnson to make it 3-2. Two minutes later the favour was repaid when Johnson and Taylor combined again after another great pattern of play that started at left back with Jason Akiotu and ended with Taylor finishing with style. The home side were totally dominating by now and it was a case of how many as opposed to if they would score again, and once again it was Johnson who tied the match up after a delightful one-two with Taylor, who flicked the ball into the path of Johnson who slid the ball past the oncoming keeper to make it 5-2.All in all a very strong performance by Palace which could have ended with many more goals on the day.
