AEK Larnaca stunned Selhurst Park as the Cypriot minnows nicked a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in the UEFA Conference League.
It’s a result Palace will only have themselves to blame for, as Jaydee Canvot, 19, – who was making just his second Eagles start – cheaply gave away possession in the second half, resulting in Riad Bajic’s superb arrowing winner.
In what was Palace’s first major European home match, the Eagles didn’t rise to the occasion, failing to record an effort on target until the 70th minute.
Unable to muster the kind of impressive fightback on show in their weekend Premier League draw against Bournemouth, Palace slumped to their third successive game without a win, following the end of their 19-match unbeaten run at Everton earlier this month.
The result was also a first defeat at Selhurst Park for Palace since February.
How Larnaca stunned Palace
Palace walked out to a raucous atmosphere that quickly grew uncertain as they failed to convert their dominance in possession to clear-cut chances.
Jean-Philippe Mateta, who entered the game in red-hot form, having scored a hat-trick vs Bournemouth after netting his first goal for France.
He had the best of the first-half opportunities but shanked at his volley, meaning it hit the bar but didn’t challenge an inspired Zlatan Alomerovic’s net.
Crystal Palace didn’t muster an effort on target until the second half
Larnaca’s goal came in period of ascendancy for the home team. A rare touch of the ball for Dean Henderson saw him play in Canvot, who nervously gifted possession to Marcus Rohden.
Rohden spotted his striker free and Bajic’s left peg beat a backtracking Henderson. Glasner called on the calvary with Eddie Nketiah, the hero against Dynamo Kyiv, called upon to impact the game. His impact resulted in Palace’s first few efforts on goal as the Eagles chased. Alomerovic kept out Mateta before Nketiah glanced wide from a Marc Guehi cross.
Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada were also reluctantly introduced by Glasner but to no avail. Instead, a unique brand of gamesmanship and craft undid Palace, who tasted a different challenge to break down a side while boasting the majority of possession.
Until the last, Palace were unsettled by Larnaca’s insistence on breaking up rhythm with tackles and drawing cheap challenges.
The defeat tees up a difficult run of games for Palace, who travel to Arsenal this weekend before a trip to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup next week, all live on Sky Sports.
Glasner: Small mistakes get punished
Jaydee Canvot’s mistake came in just his second start for Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner speaking to TNT Sports:
“That’s European football, and when you play the first time, maybe you have to learn that small mistakes get punished.
“We had enough chances to win the game, that’s the story of not just today, but for many games. I think we had four or five big chances to score, but we didn’t and made one mistake, and then you can lose a game like this, and it’s now for us to learn from this and keep heads up.”
On whether Canvot will learn from his mistake: “Yes, definitely it’s part of the game, I didn’t speak to him right now, nobody’s blaming him, it just happens, and then the finish was excellent.
“We are frustrated and it hurts, but we keep going, we have enough games, the way we played is okay, maybe not a top, top performance.
“When it’s such a deep block, every foul, every ball out, [they] waited very long to stop the rhythm, but this is a very experienced team, and that’s why we lost.
“You have to learn from it, you can always talk about it, but you have to get the experiences, all of us.
“It’s the same when you’re telling your children about your experiences, hoping they won’t make the same [mistakes], but they have to – it’s part of life, it’s part of development.
“Of course, we didn’t want to lose and we don’t want these kinds of experiences, but it’s part of life and part of football, this won’t be any problem for us, we will stick together now.”
