On a sunny Friday afternoon at Copers Cope, Crystal Palace Under-21s came back from a goal behind to snatch all three points right at the death against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Rob Street cancelled out Harvey Griffiths’ early opener and Victor Akinwale managed to find the decisive second deep into second-half stoppage time.
Paddy McCarthy made a single change to the side, with Josh Addae coming in for Kaden Rodney
Wolves took the lead three minutes in through Harvey Griffiths
Rob Street levelled the scores for Palace a quarter of an hour in
Owen Goodman pulled off a great save to deny Lee Harkin on the half-hour mark
Half-time: Crystal Palace 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Nathan Fraser was sent off for Wolves after lashing out at Kofi Balmer in the 53rd minute
Killian Phillips came close to putting Palace in front with a glancing header with 15 minutes remaining
Tyler Roberts hit the post for Wolves in the 77th minute
Second-half substitute Victor Akinwale scored the winner in the 93rd minute
Full-time: Crystal Palace 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
One week on from the 2-2 draw away at Fulham, the Eagles welcomed Wolverhampton Wanderers to Copers Cope. The visitors were promoted to the Premier League 2 Division 1 last season, coming up via the play-offs like Palace did two seasons ago.
Paddy McCarthy made one change to the side which drew with Fulham, with Josh Addae coming in for his first start of the season in place for Kaden Rodney, who made his debut in midweek in the 0-2 victory at Oxford United.
Wolves came racing out the blocks and took the lead with the first opportunity of the game. Harvey Griffiths reacted quickest from a Hugo Bueno corner to poke home the opening goal of the game.
Palace looked to find a way back into the game and managed to draw level through Rob Street in the 15th minute. The Palace No.9 capped off a well-worked move which started all the way back from Owen Goodman in the Palace goal.
Killian Phillips saw his shot skewed off the line by Christian Marques and the ball fell perfectly into the path of Street to find the equaliser.
The visitors came close to going in front once more on the half hour mark, though Goodman pulled off an excellent save down to his left to deny a 20-yard effort from Lee Harkin.
The two sides went in level at the break, with chances few and far between.
Shortly after the restart, Nathan Fraser was shown a straight red after lashing out at Kofi Balmer. The Wolves striker lost his cool and left his side in the lurch with over half an hour remaining.
Phillips had two chances to put Palace in front: the first being a half-volley on the outside of his foot which went narrowly over the bar and the second a glancing header which went across the face of goal.
Despite the visitors being a man down, they still went toe-to-toe with the young Eagles as both sides looked to find a winner. Tyler Roberts hit the crossbar for 10-man Wolves with just under 15 minutes remaining, after breaking free on the counter.
With the game heading into six minutes of stoppage time, it looked as though neither side could find the breakthrough, though Palace continued knocking at the door.
David Omilabu, playing on the left-hand side, floated in a great ball into the path of John-Kymani Gordon in the first minute of stoppage time. The forward cut the ball back across the box, but neither Ademola Ola-Adebomi or Victor Akinwale could get on the end of it.
Omilabu was causing havoc down the left all game and managed to pick out second-half substitute Akinwale just moments later. His ball across the box in the third minute of stoppage time beat two Wolves defenders and found Akinwale who was there to finish from close range.
Wolves didn’t give up hope of finding a late equaliser, forcing Goodman into a reaction save deep into the six minutes of time added on. Skipper Joe Hodge found space inside the Palace box to get a shot away, but Goodman reacted well to get a strong hand to it and secure all three points for the Eagles as the final whistle blew.
The victory means Paddy McCarthy’s side remain unbeaten in the Premier League 2 Division 1, with three wins from the first four games.
Crystal Palace: Goodman, Addae, Balmer, Grehan, Watson (Akinwale, 87), Ozoh (Mooney, 65), Wells-Morrison, Omilabu, Phillips, Gordon, Street (Ola-Adebomi, 79).
Subs not used: Siddik, Shala.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Arinbjornsson, Lembikisa, Bueno (Matheson, 86), Griffiths, Marques, Tipton, Birtwistle (Hubner, 80), Hodge, Fraser, Scicluna, Harkin (Roberts, 70).
Subs not used: Kandola, Hodnett.
