Crystal Palace’s Dwight Gayle hits late winner to stun Burnley

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/17/burnley-crystal-palace-premier-league-match-report

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Alan Pardew’s reign at Selhurst Park is only 16 days old but history has already repeated itself. That, like much else that has happened this month, is something Crystal Palace can celebrate. For the second successive week, they trailed and had the character and quality to transform defeat into victory. Once again, Dwight Gayle and Jason Puncheon were the scorers. And, as he had done seven days earlier, Pardew exerted a catalytic impact.

Tottenham were sunk partly because he brought on Adlène Guedioura for Barry Bannan. Burnley were beaten following a rapid rethink after Pardew recognised his initial tactics were failing. A reshuffle brought a revival and a remarkable turnaround. Pardew, rarely one for false modesty, could be excused for arguing it was the turning point. Certainly the Palace fans needed little persuading. No sooner had Puncheon levelled than they chorused: “Alan Pardew is one of our own.” Newcastle supporters rarely voiced such sentiments but his has been a happy homecoming.

“So far, it is going really well,” said Pardew. If anything, that is an understatement: he still has a 100 per cent record. Yet if Palace’s new era has begun brilliantly, there was an anachronistic feel to a Premier League game where both teams opted to play 4-4-2, where 20 of the 22 starters were British or Irish and where the snow on the Pennine hills provided a picturesque backdrop.

But Burnley fared better with the old-fashioned formation, surging into a two-goal lead. “We didn’t get a grip in midfield at the start,” Pardew said. “We changed.” Plan B worked far better. Gayle moved to the left wing, Wilfried Zaha switched to the right and Puncheon was deployed infield. They proved the three most influential players on the pitch thereafter.

“We had to show tremendous qualities,” added Pardew, stressing their footballing skills. “We had the flair and bravery to pass the ball.” They were ready, too, to run at Burnley. Zaha was the instigator of the fightback, tormenting Ben Mee. Burnley failed to clear his menacing cross and Gayle drilled in a shot from 10 yards to halve the deficit. Had Kieran Trippier not made a goal-saving intervention, a second Zaha centre would have given Yaya Sanogo a debut goal. The on-loan Arsenal striker came close, too, when Scott Arfield hooked his goal-bound header away.

Instead, Puncheon equalised with a low drive after veering infield. The game’s fifth and final goal doubled up as a six-pointer. Both threatened. James McArthur, a summer transfer target of Burnley’s, cleared Michael Keane’s half-volley off the line and the Palace substitute Glenn Murray rattled the post with a volley.

But Burnley had squandered a two-goal lead to lose against Tottenham on Wednesday and history repeated itself for them, too, with another unpleasant ending. “I did not feel comfortable how we were performing, even with a 2-0 lead,” said Sean Dyche. “It was unusual. We looked slightly off. One per cent off the performance level is too much at this level.”

Puncheon punished them, delivering the cross that Gayle drilled in for his fourth goal in three games under Pardew. “He is a very uncomplicated player: quick, good in the air and has two [good] feet,” said the manager. “Blimey, there’s not much more you want, is there?”

Gayle’s double meant Palace, who had failed to score in their previous four away league games, struck three times. “That is not in my memory bank,” said Pardew. “That is sometimes the benefit of a new manager.”

Palace are poster boys for change, Burnley the division’s great advocates of continuity. They set a Premier League record by fielding the same starting 11 for an eighth consecutive game.

The only element of novelty came on the scoresheet. Ben Mee struck for the first time in the top flight when he headed in Trippier’s corner after Julián Speroni was stranded in no-man’s land. Then Danny Ings scored coolly after Scott Arfield outmuscled Joel Ward. “It was a foul,” said Pardew. “The ball wasn’t in the quadrant for the first but that is a lame excuse. We should have done better.”

For once, the same might be said of Burnley. Dyche was not too despondent. “Remember, most people thought we would need snookers by now,” he said. But context seemed scant consolation to his players.