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The Media Review: Crystal Palace

The best lines from Monday night's reports on Albion's 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.

By Nick Szczepanik • 28 September 2021

By Paul Hazlewood
Albion supporters were treated to a last minute equaliser at Selhurst Park.

Ask any football writer what they dread most when doing a live running report up against deadline, and you will get the same answer – a late, late goal that changes the result.  

You spend the final ten minutes of the game trying to craft a clever intro that sums up the game, ready to be filed on the final whistle. Then, just when you are pretty sure you have nailed it, everything goes out of the window, overtaken by a single event. And you have to find a different set of words to top your report and hope it all still makes sense when you press 'Send'.

So naturally I have some sympathy for my colleagues in that cramped press box in the top corner of the rickety old stand at Selhurst Park as sparkling opening lines were deleted while cries of “Whose ball over the top?” and “Who was the Palace defender who let it go?” echoed up and down the lines of desks. But not too much.

By James Boardman
Neal Maupay's late goal at Selhurst Park was his fourth of the campaign.

In the circumstances, credit to Riath Al-Samarrai of the Daily Mail for producing the following: “Just like the rest of us, they didn’t quite have enough gas. Not enough to get to the top of the table, anyway, but they could at least coast back to their driveway without the use of thumbs. 

“It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t a fifth win in six, but it wasn’t a defeat either, which owes everything to the latest of interventions from Neal Maupay, who levelled four and a half minutes into five minutes of stoppage time. When it came, it was a finish worth waiting for. But make no mistake, it was a tedious wait. Until then, it had all been rotten and wrong from Brighton in their dreary pursuit of the lead given to Crystal Palace by Wilfried Zaha’s first-half penalty. 

“Palace had deserved that lead and they probably deserved this game. They created more, they played nicer football. But just as Graham Potter has been getting his money’s worth from all scenarios this season, there is a persistent feeling that Patrick Vieira has been getting sold a little short.

03:29

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Potter's Palace verdict

“But for now it will sting, because they were so close, only for Maupay to chase down a Joel Veltman ball over the top and then lob Vicente Guaita. It was just about Brighton’s only chance. When it is going your way, these things can happen. Last season, they didn’t. This season, they are.

“Of course, Brighton have Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool in their next four fixtures, so reality might come with a hard fall, but if their ambition for this campaign was safety then they already look to be some way down that path.”

Sam Dean of the Daily Telegraph wrote that “it is not the top of the Premier League table, but this would have felt just as sweet for Brighton and Hove Albion. With 30 seconds remaining on a typically intense and fraught night at Selhurst Park, Graham Potter’s side turned an inevitable defeat into a barely-believable draw.

“Neal Maupay’s lobbed finish brought the most unexpected delight on a night that had been genuinely painful for Brighton. Against their fiercest rivals they had been outplayed and outrun for more than 94 minutes, struggling against the combined power of Wilfried Zaha [really?] and the tireless Conor Gallagher.

04:03

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Maupay: Football is nothing without fans

“Something is stirring on the south coast, though, and the strength of the celebrations at the end, after Maupay had looped home his sensational equaliser, said plenty about the spirit and unity that Potter has fostered.

“As for Palace, the frustration was there for all to see. As Maupay goaded the home supporters, the two sets of players clashed on the pitch. Pushing and shoving ensued, while Maupay continued to grin away in delight at all.”

Ed Aarons seemed reluctant to change his intro in The Guardian too much, leading on Zaha rather than Maupay – the only writer to do so. “How Brighton supporters must wish they had never heard the name Wilfried Zaha,” he wrote. “Crystal Palace’s talisman has made a habit of saving his best for their bitter rivals and it was his penalty - a fifth goal in his last five matches against these opponents here - that denied Graham Potter’s side the opportunity to scale the Premier League’s summit.

“Yet, for once, it didn’t end up being Zaha’s night after all. A late strike from Neal Maupay after Palace thought they had the points sealed ensured it was Brighton’s players who ended the evening with smiles on their faces. While Brighton were aiming to go top of the table for the first time in their history, it was almost exactly 42 years to the day since Palace achieved the same feat under Terry Venables.” 

Tom Barclay kept it simple in The Sun first time round, knowing that the Currant’s late final edition deadlines would allow him plenty of time for a more considered rewrite by the time the final editions roared off the presses in Broxbourne.

“Neal Maupay hit a leveller with virtually the last kick of the game to break Palace’s hearts,” he wrote.

03:44

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Lallana: Feels like a win

“The Eagles thought they had won this derby when Wilfried Zaha fired home a penalty just before half-time.

“But when Maupay raced onto a hopeful punt from Joel Veltman in the fifth minute of injury time, the Frenchman kept his composure to lift the ball over Vicente Guaita and into the net.

“It sparked wild celebrations from Graham Potter and his Albion bench, while the travelling fans threw a blue flare onto the pitch.

“A delirious Maupay then chucked his shirt into the away crowd, moments after there had been a row between Seagulls keeper Robert Sanchez and James McArthur.

“It was a real smash and grab from Potter’s side, who were not at their best.

“The last-gasp goal was a role reversal of the one Christian Benteke netted for Palace in their 2-1 win at the Amex last season.

“Brighton were bidding to reach the summit of the top flight for the first time in their 120-year history here with a victory.

“They did not manage it but Maupay’s heroics - which saw him net his fourth of the season - did keep up their unbeaten [away] run to the campaign.

“It was tough to take for Palace boss Patrick Vieira, whose side had been the better of the two and had looked to have done enough until Maupay struck.”

Deadlines at The Times are also more relaxed than they used to be, so Alyson Rudd was able to squeeze some quotes in even before the Thunderer’s tablet edition refreshed at midnight. 

“Brighton & Hove Albion missed out on the chance to top the Premier League table but you would be hard pressed to find a disappointed face in their ranks as Graham Potter’s team secured an equaliser deep into stoppage time that gave them the point required to move them level on points at least with Chelsea and Manchester City,” she wrote.

10:27

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Extended PL Highlights: Crystal Palace 1 Albion 1

“There is evident resilience among this Brighton team which was rewarded when Neal Maupay, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, lobbed an astonished Vicente Guaita. Brighton had deservedly trailed since the end of the first half thanks to a Wilfried Zaha penalty but emerged for the second period with much more zest, grit and determination.

“That it was a match with the tag of the bitter M23 derby [says who?] was underlined when both Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy celebrated in front of the Crystal Palace fans prompting the sort of indignant mêlée that such rivalries are traditionally supposed to provide, and Maupay and Zaha also goaded each other for good measure.

“Maupay had one shot all game and it came after 94 minutes and 26 seconds, Brighton’s joint-second latest Premier League goal, after Solly March’s ultimately futile effort against Manchester United in that dramatic 3-2 defeat in September last year. ‘To concede a goal like that is brutal,’ Patrick Vieira, the Palace manager, said.”

In the confusion of those final seconds, someone was bound to mis-identify a key player, and unfortunately it was the Press Association’s representative, whose report will have gone to many papers worldwide. He wrote: “Palace had also made changes by this point and Edouard’s replacement Christian Benteke put the game on a plate for Jordan Ayew with 14 minutes left but the Ghanaian side-footed wide with only Sanchez to beat to extend his goal drought to 35 games.

“It would prove a crucial miss as not long after Shane Duffy headed straight at Guaita from Gross’ free-kick, another chance was created by the German and this one was finished.

“As the clock ticked into the 95th minute, Gross [surely Veltman?] side-footed forward for Maupay, who had run away from his markers, and produced a clinical finish over the Palace goalkeeper to spark wild scenes among the travelling faithful.”