Second-bottom Burnley ended a 16-match winless run thanks to Crystal Palace’s seven-minute capitulation, with Scott Parker’s side fighting back from a two-goal deficit in the first half to win 3-2 at Selhurst Park.
On a night that could have been very different for Oliver Glasner’s side, Jorgen Strand Larsen made a dream start on his home debut, scoring twice in the opening minutes.
The match against a Burnley team, who arrived late due to traffic jams, resulted in one-way traffic for the first 40 minutes, resulting in a delayed kick-off.
However, after a difficult start, Burnley pulled one back through Hannibal Mabry and Jadon Anthony deftly past Dean Henderson to force the Clarets level.
But Burnley didn’t stop there and as half-time approached, Bashir Humphries’ header caused chaos, leading to an own goal from Jefferson Lerma.
Palace held their breath with 45 minutes to go to make up for their first-half goal, but were unable to break through an uncharacteristically solid Burnley defence. Palace’s only shot on target in the second half came in stoppage time when Martin Dubravka made a super stop to deny Ismaila Sarr’s equalizer.
Palace’s defeat meant the Eagles extended their run of defeat at Selhurst, dropping to 14th place after eight games without a win at home.
Although they were adrift in the battle to remain in the Premier League, Burnley’s comeback has narrowed the gap to 18th place West Ham to six points.
Glasner criticizes sloppy defense
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glassner said his team didn’t deserve to win.
“If we play defense too sloppy like we did for the last eight or nine minutes, we’re bound to lose,” Glasner said.
“We were controlling the game, scoring great goals, watching our players do well. We forgot the basics, the duels, the second balls, the defense, the complaints about the referee’s decisions, the handballs, the stoppages.
“We still complain when we concede. Maybe we felt it was too easy to control the game down low.”
“Then in the second half we were punished and we tried everything. But if you give up the game like you did for the last eight or nine minutes, you don’t deserve to win. So we have to accept that. But to be honest, today was very tough.”
Parker: Not many teams can do what we did tonight.
Burnley manager Scott Parker praised his team after the win.
“Last weekend we were at home and there was adversity, stress and obvious frustration for everyone. Words can’t describe it. We were disappointed with the performance tonight, but not many teams can do that.
“The situation we’re in, the position we’re in now is different, and going into a home game against West Ham we’re practically booed off the pitch by our own fans. I understand that, I’m not criticizing that, I have my own opinion on that, but to come here and lose 2-0, it absolutely speaks for itself.”
“I have four sons, and that’s exactly what I would say to them. If there was ever a lesson for them, my young sons, it’s tonight. Because in that moment, in this moment, when people were able to fold, that group, what you see tonight was, yeah, incredible.”
