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Palace came minutes away from reaching the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup for the first time since 2010, however Newcastle United came back to end the Eagles’ interest in the competition via extra-time.
Paddy McCarthy’s under-18s took the lead at Selhurst Park through Nya Kirby but they were pegged back before half-time when Adam Wilson netted, however Tariq Ossai’s drive five minutes from the end looked set to send Palace through before Oisin McEntee equalised in second half stoppage-time.
The Magpies were then handed a spot-kick of their own in the first period of the additional 30 minutes which Kelland Watts converted, which would ultimately knock Palace out of the competition.
It took just 12 minutes for the 1,774 in attendance to have something to cheer when the home side were awarded a penalty. Brandon Aveiro played in Joseph Hungbo inside the box and Lewis Cass slid in to challenge the Eagles’ top scorer who had checked back, and that resulted in the prone Magpies defender handling inside the area, allowing Kirby to calmly slip the kick past Dan Langley.
But as the opening 45 minutes progressed, the visitors grew into the game with Watts and Wilson firing goalwards but not troubling Oliver Webber between the Palace posts, and indeed the hosts could have found themselves further ahead when Ehizojioe Onoabhagbe narrowly headed over a Kirby free-kick on 35 minutes.
However, within 60 seconds the Magpies had raced down the other end and grabbed an equaliser. Left winger Wilson received the ball from Watts 30 yards from goal and wriggled away from Onoabhagbe, allowing him space to ram a swerving strike into the bottom corner of Webber’s net to tie things up.
Soon after the Palace shot-stopper had to be alert when Elias Sorensen bent a low free-kick around the wall but Webber got down well to palm it away, but the final major action of an even first half saw Kyle Lynch nip in ahead of Olly Walters on the byline and tee up James Daly for a certain tap-in, however Isaac Gambin was in the right place to block on his goalline.
The second half saw fewer major sights of goal until an action-packed finale, although Allan did put the ball in the net on 74 minutes but was correctly flagged offside, however with five minutes to go, McCarthy’s table-toppers edged back in front.
Tyrick Mitchell got down the left and found Hungbo who swung a dangerous cross towards the back post, which Walters could only head it into the path of Ossai who lashed a fierce drive past Langley to score in the second successive round.
That seen certain to set up a trip to Norwich City in round five, but in the dying seconds of normal time the Magpies won a corner when Deese Kasinga saw a shot blocked by Onoabhagbe, and Matty Longstaff’s delivery resulted in a goalmouth scramble which McEntee ended by hooking the ball home to force extra-time.
The threat of penalties quickly loomed large, but United would have the settle matters from 12 yards before the need for a shootout on 98 minutes when a lung-busting run by Kasinga saw him brought down by Lynch, handing Watts the chance to put the visitors in front for the first time which he duly did by sending Webber the wrong way.
Palace were beginning to tire and Wilson would force Webber into a decent save at his near post just before the end of the first period, and once the sides have switched around Sorensen was fractions away from sealing the win when he saw a 25-yard grasscutter edge past the post.
There was one glimmer of hope for McCarthy’s boys when they won a free-kick on the edge of the area but Kirby sent it into side-netting, ensuring their attentions this campaign are now solely on lifting the U18 Professional Development League title.
Palace: Webber, Ossai (Russell 90), Onoabhagbe, Lynch, Mitchell, Demby (Boateng 65), Robertson, Kirby, Daly, Aveiro (Malcolm 79), Hungbo. Subs not used: Funnell, Jno-Baptiste.
Newcastle: Langley, Cass, McEntee, Gambin, Walters, Longstaff, Watts, Kasinga (Aplin 105), Wilson, Sorensen (Young 112), Allen (Goodridge 96). Subs not used: Brown, Robson.