Police stun Crystal Palace to draw the match 2-2 after going down 2-0 early in the 2nd half.
Crystal Palace who are in 2nd place in the group behind Army have done this season but surprisingly were unable to close out the match against Police. Scoring machine Isaac Aba gave the visitors the lead going into halftime and scored the second goal soon after half time. Police staged a dramatic comeback in the dying stages converting a penalty and equalizing courtesy of a defensive miscommunication.
From the onset it was Crystal Palace who took control of the match as Police struggled to get a grip of the African trio of Aba, Erastus and Franscois. Crystal Palace did create chances but poor finishing cost them early goals.
Palace did get a deserved goal when Nandasiri Ekanayake fed Aba on the right who danced into the penalty box and drilled a low powerful ball past Dumith Shashika for the opener. Police kept to their basics and managed to keep a lid on the scoring but left little to be imagined on the offensive end.
After halftime Crystal Palace continued their attack and the second goal followed suite as a shot which was saved by the goalkeeper rebounded to Aba who had no hesitation in putting it into the net.
The complexion of the game changed dramatically as a string of substitutions added fresh energy to the Police side as they started to get back into the match. They dried down the feeding lines for Aba and built on the offensive end earning a penalty for sustained attack. The penalty was successfully converted and Palace started to feel the heat.
The pressure hit climax as deep into injury time Police snatched the equalizer. Nilantha Pathirana’s ball in between the defense defense and goalkeeper created confusion as the goalkeeper missed it letting it trickle into the goal as Police earned a draw from jaws of defeat.
ThePapare.com Man of the Match: Nilantha Pathirana
“We added a striker in the second half which proved the trick and we played well in the first half,” Police coach Mohamed Noordeen added after the match.
“There was a slight lack in our tactical plan which cost the match in the last minutes. We didn’t have a strong bench because a few were suspended due to yellow cards,” Devasagayan, coach of Crystal Palace told ThePapare.com.
