Crystal Palace 1-0 Stockport County: FLW report as Hatters exit FA Cup | OneFootball

FLW report live from Selhurst Park

Stockport County's 24-year wait for an FA Cup fourth round tie goes on after they were beaten 1-0 by Premier League side Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.

The third-tier promotion hopefuls had dreams of making it past the third round stage for the first time since 2000/01 but Ebere Eze's early opener meant they were always playing catch-up.

Stockport hung in the game but were unable to take their chances when they came – Kyle Wootton missing from close range early in the first half and Isaac Olaofe being denied by Matt Turner after the break.

County now turn their attention back to the League One promotion battle while Palace are in the hat for Sunday's draw.

Crystal Palace 1-0 Stockport County

Stockport headed to South London with hopes of reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 24 years.

Their chances of putting that record right at Selhurst Park were dented an hour before kick-off when Glasner named a near full-strength side and looked slimmer still when Eze fired the hosts ahead inside four minutes. The England international seized on Odin Bailey's half-clearance after Daichi Kamara's speculative cross and spun the Stockport midfielder before picking out the bottom corner.

The visitors responded well and would have been level seven minutes later had Wootton found the target from close range. Olaofe took down a floated ball forward and beat his defender but his strike partner couldn't convert his probing cross.

Challinor's side stood strong against persistent Eagles pressure as the half wore on and enjoyed raids forward without really testing goalkeeper Matt Turner. Long-range strikes from Callum Camps and Bailey were straight down the American shot-stopper's throat while he easily collected Olaofe's looping header just after the half-hour mark.

Marc Guehi's side-netting effort at a corner was the closest either team had come to the game's second goal up until the eve of the half when Eze was within inches of picking out Daniel Munoz at the back post after breezing past the County defence.

Loose Palace passing around the back and a deep free-kick offered the visitors some early encouragement after the break but the game soon settled back into its natural rhythm with Glasner's side probing to double their advantage.

Once again, Stockport hung in the game and waited for their moment. It nearly came in the 65th minute when Olaofe seized on Guehi's loose pass but his powerful strike was pushed wide by Turner.

Summer signing Eddie Nketiah is yet to really find his feet at Selhurst Park and he had a chance to kill the game with 12 minutes to go. A long throw into the box was hooked across the front of goal by Guehi and Nketiah headed just over the top.

The former Arsenal striker would surely have made amends with three minutes of normal time remaining had Jefferson Lerma teed him up after bursting through on goal but instead the midfielder blazed over to keep Stockport dreams alive.

The six added minutes breathed a little more hope into the visitors but it was Palace that nearly found the net in stoppage time as Eze fed young substitute Justin Devenny. The 21-year-old's miss was quickly followed by the full-time whistle, which confirmed County would have to wait another year to end their wait for a fourth round tie with the Eagles going through.

Crystal Palace player ratings

Matt Turner - 6

Chris Richards - 7

Chadi Riad - 7

Marc Guehi - 6

Nathaniel Clyne - 6 (Jeffrey Schlupp (77) - 6)

Jefferson Lerma - 6

Daichi Kamada - 8

Daniel Munoz - 7

Ismaila Sarr - 6 (Justin Devenny (64) - 6)

Eberechi Eze - 8

Eddie Nketiah - 6

Unused subs: Remi Matthews, Tyrick Mitchell, Maxence Lacroix, Jean-Phillipe Mateta, Cheick Doucoure, Caleb Kporha

Stockport County player ratings

Corey Addai - 6

Kyle Knoyle - 7 (Jay Mingi (84) - 6)

Callum Connolly - 7

Ethan Pye - 7

Macauley Southam-Hales - 7

Odin Bailey - 5 (Ollie Norwood (61) - 5)

Callum Camps - 6

Will Collar - 6

Ibou Touray - 7 (Ryan Rydel (77) - 6)

Kyle Wootton - 6 (Jack Diamond (77) - 6)

Isaac Olaofe - 8 (Benony Andresson (77) - 6)

Unused subs: Ben Hinchliffe, Sam Hughes, Jack Diamond, Lewis Fiorini, Che Gardner

Attendance

The attendance for Crystal Palace v Stockport County at Selhurst Park was 21,014.

That included 3,402 travelling Hatters fans.

Oliver Glasner post-match reaction

"Job done," Oliver Glasner told the press after the game.

"Good start to the game. Early goal and then we controlled the game. We missed scoring the second goal, we had some opportunities, and then in the second half, we gave them one big chance with our mistake in the build-up, and at the end, it was a bit risky. Many long balls, we defended that well and then we missed again opportunities to decide the game.

"It's a little bit of the story of the season. We have opportunities but don't score from them."

He added: "I'm really pleased with the attitude. We played this game very serious. We won the game with a clean sheet to reach the next round."

Dave Challinor post-match reaction

Speaking to the press after the game, Challinor said: "When you come to these types of places, as much as you'd like to have a real go, let's be clear, us opening up too early would've been suicidal almost because we're playing against players that are at a different level to what we are.

"We had to be more subdued in the way we went about it. We knew today would be about those moments and us taking those moments. In the first 60 minutes, we probably had the two best opportunities."

He added: "The players did brilliant in terms of what we asked them to do. If you want to look at it differently, we knew that opening up we'd concede opportunities but we've been done by a moment of quality by a quality player."