Crystal Palace left humiliated and humbled after League Cup defeat by Bristol City
Bristol City 4 Crystal Palace 1: The Eagles are the latest Premier League side to be felled by the hosts who have also beaten Stoke and Watford to reach the competition's last eight
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Your support makes all the difference.“Premier League, you’re ‘aving a laugh,” the Bristol City fans sang. They couldn’t have been more right as Roy Hodgson’s men were left humiliated and humbled by the hosts here at the Ashton Gate Stadium. Losing 4-1 in the fourth round of the League Cup, all memories of Crystal Palace’s stunning victory over Chelsea earlier this month have now well and truly vanished.
It didn’t look like it was going to be one of those evenings, however. Bakary Sako opened the scoring after 21 minutes with a cool finish but Patrick van Aanholt undid the Eagles’ early work. Nodding the ball back to Wayne Hennessey, he was unaware of the lurking Matty Taylor who had positioned himself between the defender and the visiting goalkeeper. The City striker sought to punish the defender for his foolish error and levelled the score from close range.
Things went from bad to worse for Palace when Bristol took the lead by taking advantage of more careless defending. From a cross, Milan Djuric, who worked tirelessly to ensure all 6ft 6in of him caused as many problems for Palace as possible, beat Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the air before wrestling off two challenges to fire Bristol into the lead.
After the break Bristol could have sat back and defended the lead they worked hard for in the first half. Instead, they extended their advantage through left-back Joe Bryan’s spectacular missile-like shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.
The hosts then added further misery to Palace and scored a fourth. Callum O’Dowda collected Josh Brownhill’s knock down and, from 20-yards out, fired a low drive into the bottom corner.
For Hodgson, it was an evening that will have recalled haunting memories of England’s dismal campaign in France last summer. Each time Bristol City defender and Iceland international Hordur Magnusson launched a long throw into the box, Icelandic claps reverberated around the ground as if the sheer sight of him was not enough to remind the former England manager of his crushing exit from the 2016 European Championships.
His side, while heavily changed from the team that lined up against Chelsea and Newcastle, had slipped into their hapless early season form with no signs of resurgence on the cards.
For Bristol it was another win against Premier League opposition, having previously seen off Stoke and Watford in their Carabao Cup run.
Robins manager Lee Johnson labelled his side as clear underdogs heading into the game. In truth it was a mismatch, but not the way we expected. Despite conceding first, his team were rarely tested and ended the match deserved winners.
“Que sera, whatever will be will be. We’re going to Wembley!” was the chant from the Bristol fans, if they continue to brush past Premier League opponents like this, why not?
Bristol City (4-4-2): Luke Steele; Hordur Magnusson, Bailey Wright, Aden Flint, Eros Pisano (Jamie Paterson 64’); Joe Bryan, Marlon Pack, Josh Brownhill, Callum O’Dowda; Famara Diedhiou (Milan Djuric 30’ (Tyreeq Bakinson 80’)), Matty Taylor.
Unused substitutes: Frank Fielding, Niclas Eliasson, Lloyd Kelly, Zak Vyner.
Crystal Palace (4-5-1): Wayne Hennessey; Patrick Van Arrnolt (Levi Lumeka 82’), Martin Kelly, James Tomkins, Timothy Fosu-Mensah; Jason Puncheon, Jairo Riedewald, Sully Kaikai (Pape Souare 63’), Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Lee Chung-Yong (Freddie Ladapo 56’); Bakary Sako .
Unused substitutes: Dion Henry, Jordan Mutch, Damien Delaney, Levi Lumeka, Micheal Phillips.
Attendance: 21,901 (2,049)
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