Marsh felt the performance carried extra significance following the postponement of Palace’s previous two U21 fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Premier League International Cup.
“I thought it was very good,” said Marsh. “Everyone did their job from the start. It was just really, really good to play after the last two games have been postponed for different reasons. I’m really pleased.”
The forward capped his influential display on 55 minutes with a superbly taken goal, making it five on the day for the young Eagles. David Obou showed sharp awareness to recover George King’s overhit cross and loft it back into the area, where Marsh expertly brought the ball under control under pressure before spinning and firing home.
“It was good,” Marsh added. “The goal, obviously, David crossed it back in and my body shape was right. I was facing away from goal, so I just tried to spin and get a shot off, and luckily it went in.”
Marsh also highlighted how the Academy has remained sharp during a disrupted run of fixtures.
“We’ve had a lot of in-house games, which have been interesting,” he explained. “They’re good, but you want competitive matches. That’s what we train all week for, and to miss out is disappointing.
“But everyone’s been really good, training hard every day, and it showed today. Everyone got through the 90 minutes well. Brilliant.”