Report & Highlights: Young Eagles pick apart Canaries in return to winning ways

Summary

• Seven changes to the side which faced Arsenal on the weekend

• Casey puts Palace ahead in the fourth minute

• Palace have multiple chances as the half goes on

• Norwich’s penalty shout falls on deaf ears

• Casey nets a second halfway through the first-half

• Agbinone is denied on the line

• Dashi adds a third before half-time

• HT: Norwich 0-3 Palace

• Second-half is stop-start with multiple substitutions and injuries

• Casey and Agbinone have chances to further bolster Palace’s lead

• Eastwood makes a strong stop to deny Corke

• Norwich pull one back through Mundle-Smith with 10 minutes to play

• Agbinone seals the points with a well taken effort in the 84th minute

• FT: Norwich 1-4 Palace

Just three days on from the dismal defeat to London rivals Arsenal, Crystal Palace Under-18s were on the road once more as they travelled to face Norwich City.

There were wholesale changes to the side - seven in total - with only Mofe Jemide, Cormac Austin, Joe Gibbard and Benji Casey maintaining their places.

Palace were on the front foot early on and took the lead in the fourth minute. A well-worked move from back to front saw Rio Cardines head on Billy Eastwood’s pass into the path of Gibbard.

The midfielder drove forward and slipped Casey in behind. The No. 9, on his second successive start for the Under-18s made no mistake as he calmly slotted it past Henry Bullen in the Norwich City goal.

After going a goal up, Palace were quickly in search of a second and nearly found one through Casey once more. Cardines and Matteo Dashi linked up well down the right hand side, with the latter picking out Casey in the middle who couldn’t connect with it properly.

Casey eventually got his second halfway through the first-half. Dashi got on the end of a long ball over the top from Jake Grante on the right hand side and picked out an inch-perfect cross for Casey. Though the Norwich defender got a touch, he put it on a plate for Casey from two yards out to finish.

Norwich had it all to do, as the young Eagles were not resting on their laurels after going two goals to the good. A penalty shout from Errol Mundle-Smith fell on deaf ears, while right-back Kingston Simbai saw his effort easily held by Eastwood after a surging run.

Agbinone was through on goal, rounded the goalkeeper, but was denied by the recovering Norwich defenders on the line. Just before half-time, Dashi was in to put Palace three goals to the good with a simple tap-in.

In another well-worked move from the back, Eastwood played it out to Trialist who in turn played Casey in behind. The forward beat his man, hit it across the face of goal where Bullen parried it directly into the path of Dashi who couldn’t miss.

After the interval, the game was effectively broken up by intermittent stoppages due to injuries and substitutions for either side.

There were multiple chances to bolster the lead for Palace in the second-half, the pick of them fell to Casey who was once denied by the ‘keeper and then the offside flag as he was in search of his hat-trick.

Captain Jemide saw a header from a Cardines corner deflect off a Norwich defender before it was hacked away in the ensuing chaos.

Norwich did pull one back through Mundle-Smith 10 minutes from time. Eastwood made an initial stop to deny substitute Finlay Corke just moments before, though Mundle-Smith was played through after Corke pounced on a loose ball to slot in a consolation for the Canaries.

The host’s relatively muted celebrations were cut short as Agbinone restored the three-goal advantage with the pick of the bunch. After receiving it out wide from a George King pass, he cut inside and skipped past three Norwich defenders before hitting it back across goal and into the corner.

His fourth of the campaign sealed all three points for Palace as they saw the remainder of the game out. Victory puts an end to the five-game losing streak before this game and sees the side move to within three points of Arsenal in fifth place.

Norwich: Bullen (GK), Simbai (Owen, 60), T. Williams (Rowland, HT), Doy, Keita (Ofori-Manteaw, HT), Djedje, Sealey, Chilvers, Roberts (Corke, 68), Mundle-Smith, Daley (Mundle, HT).

Palace: Eastwood (GK), Cardines, Grante, Jemide, Trialist, Austin (King, 51), Gibbard (Mustapha, 53), S. Williams (Whyte, 88), Agbinone, Casey (Redhead, 88), Dashi.

Sub not used: Hill (GK).