Pictures by Nick Olive - www.nickolivephoto.com

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Ronnie Jepson began his managerial career in charge of the Crystal Palace Reserves with a thumping 9-2 win against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on Tuesday afternoon.

A first Palace hat trick for striker Matthew Wright plus a brace from Kieron Cadogan and goals from Johnny Ertl, Jack Randall, Nathaniel Pinney and trialist Rhys Coleman completed the rout. It is only right to mention, however that Orient fielded a predominantly young and inexperienced side compared to Palace's eleven of second year apprentices, first year professionals and full professionals.

Plus, in the glorious sunshine of east London, it was the home side that somewhat surprisingly took the lead after just three minutes when Jake Argent smashed home Darryl Sydes' cross from six yards out.

But the Eagles pulled one back on ten minutes when Cadogan's fine cross from the left hand side tempted goalkeeper Jack Giddens from his line and Wright stole in to head it past him and into an empty net.  There was a momentary concern for Wright because he took a knock to the head when challenging Giddens and for a moment he looked a little shaky, but following some treatment he was fit to resume.

Two minutes later Palace doubled the lead when Cadogan managed to ghost into the box unnoticed and control an Ertl cross ten yards out. He initially missed the ball completely with his first effort, but he was able to compose himself to take a touch and then fire neatly into the far corner.

Palace continued to push and impose themselves and within five minutes Palace had their third. A good ball up the right flank by Michael Abnett found Ertl, who then did well to hold off his marker and play in Randall . The right winger had made a darting run in behind two defenders and as the space opened up for him to shoot he didn't disappoint with a fine finish that curled round Giddens.

At this stage of the game it appeared that everytime Palace aimed a shot the likelihood was that it would result in another goal, which is exactly what happened on 25 minutes.

Lee Hills, who was magnificent all afternoon, using his pace and strength to not only cause Orient's right back all sorts of problems, but also when he drifted into the middle he linked up the play nicely.

In this move he picked the ball up on the edge of his own box, played a ball out wide to Randall and then immediately carried on his run to the halfway line where Randall played it back to him. He then played another one-two with trialist striker Archie Fataki to set him free inside the box before laying the ball off for a grateful Wright to finish.

Orient pulled one back on the half hour mark with a stunning 30 yard striker from Harry Baker, but Palace pushed on and got two more goals before the half time whistle.

Ertl got the first when he capitalised on some poor Orient marking to head home Cadogan's corner from six yards, while Cadogan got Palace's sixth with a stunning strike to finish off a move he started.

Picking it up on the half way line he played two one-twos with Wright before firing a rasping drive past Giddens from just inside the area.

The second half though was a much tighter affair as Orient worked better in closing their lines and stopping Palace's advances. But ultimately though Palace's class shone through as they pushed on to score three more goals.

First was twelve minutes into the restart when Wright claimed his hat trick by heading home from close range from a superb Charlie Holness cross.

Substitute Nathaniel Pinney then got the eighth on 84 minutes with an effort that even the most partisan Palace spectator would agree had no right to cross the goal line.

The Palace striker did well initially to find a good position on the edge of the box to aim a shot at goal, but the strike was tame. Then, what should have been a routine pickup for Giddens quickly turned into a desperate scramble as the ball squirmed under his arms and trickled over the line.

The rout was completed with two minutes to go when Coleman capped off a fine debut Reserve performance at the back with a super header from Hill's cross from the left.

There will be exclusive highlights of this match on Palace Player later this week plus an exclusive interview with Kieron Cadogan.

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