Report & Highlights: Cottagers score six against 10-man Palace

Summary

• Five changes to the side that won against Norwich last week

• 10: Palace dominate early on, though only Derry tests the Fulham ‘keeper

• 22: Zepa and Evans have Fulham’s first two chances of the game

• 24: Picotto opens the scoring for the visitors

• 28: Dashi comes close to levelling for Palace

• 39: Ali Wahid doubles the Fulham advantage

• 45: Williams is played in, but can’t quite divert his shot on target before the break

• HT: Palace 0-2 Fulham

• 50: Lubega added a third for Fulham shortly after the restart

• 60: Osei has a chance to make an instant impact off the bench

• 67: Fulham add another through Zepa

• 71: Dashi is shown a second yellow card, Palace down to 10 men

• 77: Quashie scores Fulham’s fifth from the spot

• 90+1: Platel adds a sixth for Fulham

• FT: Palace 0-6 Fulham

A week on from the 4-2 comeback against Norwich City, Crystal Palace Under-18s hosted London rivals Fulham at Copers Cope, in search of a fourth straight victory.

There were five changes to the side from head coach Rob Quinn, with Billy Eastwood, Dean Benamar, Sean Somade, Jasper Judd and Trialist coming in for Marcus Hill, Tyler Whyte, Freddie Cowin, Joshua Muwana and Enrique Lameiras.

The young Eagles were on top in the opening quarter of an hour, threatening from multiple set pieces, though only Jesse Derry managed to force Marco Underwood into a save as the rest of Palace’s chances were blocked or cleared away.

Halfway through the first-half, the visitors had their first forays at goal. Macaulay Zepa saw a shot deflected out, while Aidan Evans headed narrowly wide of the post from the following corner.

Fulham managed to open the scoring shortly after their first chances through Luca Picotto. The left-back was in the right place at the right time to get on the end of Zepa’s ball across the face of goal.

Palace looked to level straight away and outstanding work down the right hand side from Judd saw Underwood misplace a pass to Matteo Dashi, though Palace’s No. 10 couldn’t quite keep his effort down.

The visitors added a second five minutes before the break, with Farhaan Ali Wahid getting on the scoresheet. He managed to work his way to the byline down the left and convert with a well-taken finish.

Captain Seb Williams nearly pulled one back for Palace on the stroke of half-time, after his excellent run was picked out by a Dashi ball over the top, but he couldn’t get a clean contact when shooting on the turn.

After the break, Palace continued in their attempts to halve the deficit, but it was Fulham who managed to notch early on. A surging run on the counter from Seth Ridgeon saw the midfielder slip Bashil Lubega in and the Fulham No. 9 converted the third for the visitors.

Things went from bad to worse for the young Eagles, as Fulham added a fourth halfway through the second-half. Zepa cut inside on the edge of the box and managed to finish on his left foot.

Palace’s misery was compounded as Dashi was shown a second yellow card for a foul on the Fulham goalkeeper with 20 minutes remaining. Fulham then added a fifth from the spot, as captain Jayden Quashi sent Eastwood the wrong way.

Substitute Harley Platel added a sixth for the Cottagers in second-half stoppage time, rounding off the scoring.

The final whistle couldn’t come sooner for the young Eagles as the remaining minutes of the game were played out in relatively low tempo. They will now pick themselves up and regroup ahead of their clash against Aston Villa next week.

Palace: Eastwood (GK), King, Benamar (Adams-Collman, 80), Walker-Smith, Somade, Trialist (Osei, 56), Judd, Williams (Muwana, 80), Casey (Henry, 67), Dashi, Derry.

Sub not used: Hill (GK).

Fulham: Underwood (GK), Walters, Cooke, Nsasi, Picotto, Quashie, Ridgeon (White, 78), Zepa (Platel, 82), Ali Wahid, Lubega, Evans (Khan, 86).

Sub not used: Kaiser.